


Winchester & Colt

by raths_kitten



Series: Winchester & Colt [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Community: spn_j2_bigbang, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 19:49:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raths_kitten/pseuds/raths_kitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen Ackles, wealthy head of Ackles, Inc., orphan, raised by his uncle Jeffrey Morgan. What nobody knows is that by night he dresses up in black and keeps the streets safe as the vigilante they call Winchester. Jared is Winchester’s biggest fan and he wants to be a hero just like his idol, so he assumes the personality of Sam Colt, hoping to one day receive training from Winchester himself. But Jared might have put himself into more danger than he bargained for when Jensen’s criminal uncle returns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winchester & Colt

**Author's Note:**

> Written for BigBang. Thanks to flawedamythyst for beta-reading and thanks to bflyw for creating the art! (Art post [HERE](http://bflyw.livejournal.com/289115.html). Special thanks to aelfsiden for invalueable initial support. I wouldn't have written this without your encouragement.

_Chapter One – Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down_

Jared was crouched down behind a dumpster, nervous, thrilled and bouncy. Way too bouncy to stay here, _crouched_. But he couldn’t risk getting seen. This was the closest he’d allowed himself to be so far, the closest he’d ever come near him. Him. Winchester. His idol. Superhero by night, nobody knew who by day. Although, as far as Jared was concerned, Winchester was hero 24-7. Probably hiding out in his lair by day, resting, working out, doing research, working on his equipment. Preparing for the night. Preparing to catch the bad guys.

Everything Jared wished _he_ could be doing. He sighed wistfully and watched the scene unfold in front of him. Winchester was battling three thugs, or rather toying with them, giving them false hope. As if three mere criminals could overwhelm _Winchester_.

There was just something so graceful about the way he moved. How he ducked and jumped and kicked. He was pure force and all muscle - oh boy, was he built! - but at the same time his movements were light and graceful. Always controlled and aimed perfectly.

Just like that dropkick he delivered now, sending one of the baddies crashing into a trashcan, which shattered audibly. And as he turned around, prepared to strike again, and … and oh no! A fourth thug was suddenly emerging from the shadows, gun in his hand, aimed at Winchester!

“Watch out! Behind you!” Before he could think about it, Jared was up and running, arms flailing, as if he could create enough wind to turn the bullet around just like that.

“What the…?” Winchester looked up at him and ducked right away, turning his shoulder to deflect the bullet. And damn, that’s why his costume was so much bulkier than Jared’s own! Bullet proof. Of course it was. And as he watched Winchester turn his leg and swipe at the feet of the shooter, effectively knocking him to the ground, causing the other two thugs to run away, Jared suddenly felt really silly, just arriving, out of breath and panting loudly, in his self-made “costume” – jeans, plaid shirt, black mask over his eyes and the colt loaded with blanks hanging low from his hip.

Meanwhile Winchester, in his dark leather pants, black shirt and apparently bullet proof vest, his equally black leather coat swinging in the wind, face completely covered by a deep red triangular piece of cloth that only left his eyes uncovered - and his hair, sticking up in menacing spikes, dark, like the rest of him, trademark rifle hanging off his back; meanwhile Winchester… was glaring at him.

“The fuck you think you’re doing?” He was stalking towards him and Jared shrunk back, shivering at the deep, dark, perfect voice. Oh fuck! If he wasn’t so scared, he’d be rock hard just after hearing this one sentence. How could villains fight him, and not drop down on their knees right away?

“I was… was just trying to, uh, save you?” Jared coughed and bit his lip, which, damn! Winchester could see. His mask had clear advantages. Not like Winchester would ever show weakness like this though. Jared sighed.

Winchester laughed. Cold. Hard. “Seriously? Are you suicidal or just demented?”

“What? No!” Jared puffed out his chest, offended. “I’m a hero, just like you.”

That eared him another laugh, coupled with a snort. “Honestly, kid, get out of here.”

“No.” Jared pouted. He’d saved his life, at the very least he deserved some gratitude, right? Or at least some respect. Winchester might be the greatest human being ever, but right now he was a mean idiot.

“No?” Winchester got even closer to him and Jared was suddenly struck by how strikingly green his eyes were. And somehow… they looked familiar. Jared frowned.

“No, I… oh, fuck!” Out of the corner of his eye, Jared could see that the shooter had woken up and was scrambling for his gun again. Reacting on sheer instinct, he pushed Winchester away and jumped forward, launching himself at the bad guy and knocking him back over just before he could reach the gun. Unfortunately though, Jared skidded roughly over the ground, shredding the shirt and jeans, and then, worse, scraping his right arm and knee.

He bit his lip hard so he didn’t yell out, which only made him hurt even more, because he’d stupidly bitten through it and now not only smelled, but also tasted his own blood. He was _so_ going to be sick.

“Fucking moron!” Winchester was on his feet again, kicking the shooter on the ground, even though he was already out cold, then he collected the gun, unloaded it and threw the gun into the nearest dumpster, pocketing the bullets. Jared watched in awe as he then hoisted the bad guy up and cuffed him to said dumpster, before doing the same to the thug down first and still present. The other two had successfully escaped. But hey, at least they were all alive and well. Relatively speaking. Jared was glad.

At least he was, until Winchester hoisted _him_ up by his belt. “I meant you, by the way. Moron.”

Jared’s face fell. “But I… I saved you. Again!”

“And this all wouldn’t have happened, if you hadn’t fucking interfered in the first place!” Winchester squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Friggin’ rookie.”

Jared beamed. He knew he shouldn’t. _Definitely_ shouldn’t, judging by the pained noise he elicited from Winchester, but hey! Winchester… _Winchester!_ had just acknowledged that Jared was a hero as well. An equal. “Sam Colt.”

“Come again?” Winchester looked up from assessing Jared’s wounds, which, really… oh fuck, damn, now Jared _was_ hard. He squirmed.

“That’s my name. My _code name_.” Jared winked. “Sam Colt.” He pointed lamely at his weapon and hoped for a positive reaction from Winchester. After all, he’d modelled his whole hero persona after him. Winchester – Colt. Except for of course he came with a first name. He’d feel stupid when the civilians he’d rescue would call him ‘Colt’. Like this, he could smile down in their grateful faces and say ‘Call me Sam’. Oh yes, it had all been so good in his head. Never once had he ended up with a bloody forearm and scraped knee, though.

“Dear lord, please help us all.” Winchester snorted again, which, hey! Really wasn’t anything like Jared had dreamed of. And he was pretty sure their first meeting wasn’t ending up with nookie in Winchester’s lair, either. Which was a god damn shame.

“Did save you, though,” Jared huffed in a weak voice, nothing if not defiant. He had to take his small victories where he got them.

“Come on, let’s get you patched up, rookie.” Winchester rolled his eyes and hooked his arm around Jared, helping him walk.

Jared frowned, happily surprised. Suddenly the nookie was becoming a real possibility again. “You gonna show me your lair?”

“My what?” Winchester laughed again. “You kill me, kid.”

“It’s Sam. Sam Colt.” Jared tried to stand up straighter and walk on his own, but his knee hurt more than he wanted to admit.

“Alright, _Sammy_ ,” Winchester’s voice was full of mocking, but Jared was too tired to correct him. “Lesson number one. Always locate your nearest First Aid Kit. You never know when you might need it.” He was steering him towards the store the thugs had been trying to rob. “And judging by tonight, _you_ will need it plenty.”

Jared silently growled, very tempted to remind him again how he’d saved _his_ life, but whatever. And hey! Winchester was teaching him. Which was all Jared wanted to begin with. Learn from the master.

They entered the store and Winchester used his elbow to break the glass around the locked-in First Aid Kit. Then he steered Jared towards a chair in the back office and knelt down, opening the Kit. He got out what he wanted and Jared was admittedly a little woozy by now, because he didn’t even flinch when Winchester ripped his pants apart some more to clear his knee. And under any other circumstances, this picture, Winchester down on his knees, ripping apart his pants, would be the stuff of legendary fantasies, but as it was, the pain had by now effectively killed his boner. And if he was trying to rise again, the sharp flash of sheer hell Winchester was bestowing unto him by pouring iodine over the wound ruined any chance of that. Ever. Happening. Again.

“Fuck!” Jared clenched his fist and pounded it against the table next to him.

“Having fun yet playing hero?” Winchester looked up at him, but his voice had somehow softened.

“Time… Time of my life,” Jared admitted through clenched teeth, and, truth be told, it still was. Sure, it hurt, but at least he felt alive. At least he was doing _something_. And he was doing it _with_ Winchester.

“You really do, don’t you?” Winchester shook his head. “Unbelievable.” He took hold of Jared’s shirt and ripped until the buttons flew to the ground.

“Hey!” Jared protested, but still moved his arms so Winchester could undress him. Which, again, under any other circumstances…

“What? You were gonna keep it? Sew it back together?” Winchester showed him the bloody, very ripped apart arm. “Lesson number two, kid. You wanna be a hero, you’ve gotta invest in protective clothing. Or you’re not gonna survive long.” He discarded the shirt and cleaned up Jared’s arm, the iodine not stinging as bad this time. Jared let out a sight of relief when it was done.

“Thanks.” He bit his lip again and then licked at it. Winchester’s gaze zeroed in on his lip and before Jared knew it, he had an iodine drenched cloth pressed to it as well.

“Hold it,” Winchester commanded and Jared did, watching his idol bandage him up. When he was done, he reached for the trash bin and stuffed Jared’s shirt and the discarded First Aid materials into it before taking hold of the bag and pulling it out. “Number three. Try not leaving your DNA all over a crime scene.” He thrust the bag at Jared, who clutched at it dumbly.

“Why? We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Tell that to the cops when they bring you in for questioning.” Winchester gave him a look. “Let’s say they believe you, believe that you’re the big Sam Colt. They’ll still be able to lock you up for a long time.”

“But why? I helped catch the bad guys. Why would they charge me, if I’m the hero?” Jared didn’t understand.

“The word is ‘vigilante’, kid. Look it up.” He stood up and looked around, assessing the room. “You got any money on you?”

Jared groaned as he twisted around to reach into his back pocket to get out his wallet. Which, come to think of it, also included his ID and credit cards. Winchester would surely scold him for that. He blushed and quickly reached in to pull out his last fifty before Winchester could look too closely. “Yeah, why?”

Winchester snatched it up and placed it on the table, putting the paper weight on top of it. “Wanna be a real hero, you pay for your damages.”

Jared gasped. “But… but that was my last money!” How was he gonna eat for the rest of the month?

“Too bad.” Winchester pulled him up to his feet. “Should have thought about it before you donned the…” He looked Jared up and down. “ _Costume_.”

“But I… but I saved your life!” Even though Jared wasn’t sure himself what that had to do with anything right now. He just felt the need to point it out again.

“Oh, you’re right.” Winchester pointed his index finger at him. “Tell you what. How about I take you back to my lair and make it up to you. Pay you back and give you some fresh clothing as well.”

“R...really?” Jared looked at him hopefully.

“Fuck, kid.” Winchester snorted. “You kill me.” And then he laughed again and let go after making sure Jared could walk on his own. “Seriously.” He shook his head and pointed at Jared again, still laughing. “Friggin’ rookie.” And with that he turned around and was out of the store and out of sight before Jared even had the chance to realize what was happening.

Then, alone in the store, half naked and the plastic bag clutched weakly to his chest, it suddenly all came crashing down on him. The night, what had happened. The adrenaline rush rapidly fading and making room for fear and even more pain, Jared knew he’d best get home really, really fast, before he crashed down right here in the store and was found by the police like this. Yeah. They’d call him a hero and congratulate him _for sure_. He had to snort himself and hobbled home as fast as he could.

 

 

_Chapter Two – Time To Pretend_

Come Monday morning, he was still in pretty bad shape, but happy that he only ventured out into the night on weekends, when he knew he could sleep it off the next day. Because as it was, his boss already hated him to begin with. He couldn’t add coming in late to his increasing list of failures.

His boss. Jared scowled as he thought of Jensen Ackles, wealthy businessman, head of Ackles Inc., slavedriving prick. Jared was only the assistant to one of Ackles’ assistants, but that still didn’t keep him from yelling for Jared personally every chance he got and calling him out on all the ‘mistakes’ he made, which really, weren’t ever anything worth yelling about - if Ackles wouldn’t be such a nit-picking tight-ass. And clearly had it out for Jared.

So he wasn’t surprised when the first words he heard as he entered the office were Ackles yelling for him. “Padalecki! In my office. Now!”

Jared cringed and ducked his head, hobbling in as best he could without being too obvious about limping. He placed Ackles’ steamed soy latte on the desk in front of him before standing up straight. “Sir.”

“Good morning, Padalecki.” Ackles raised his eyebrow.

“Good morning, Mr. Ackles, sir.” Dammit! He should have greeted first.

Ackles squeezed the bridge of his nose. “How many times have I told you, Padalecki? It’s either Mr. Ackles, or sir. Not both.” He rolled his eyes. “Geeze, you make me feel like the drill sergeant at an army camp.”

Well, _duh._ Might explain why Jared always felt like a helpless recruit, here to get his ass reamed out. And not in the good way. Which, Jared had to admit, was something he’d fantasized about on occasion. Because asshole or not, Ackles was smoking hot. Even though he was well groomed, always wearing tailored designer suits and those dark rimmed, unspectacular glasses, everything about him screaming ‘boring’, Jared couldn’t help but feel like there was something lurking underneath. Like, if he closed the door, he’d pull off his belt and tie Jared up with it before…

And he was drifting off again. Dammit! Ackles was snapping his fingers in front of his face. “You alright there, Padalecki?”

“Yes, sir, Mr…” He bit it off last minute. “Yes.”

Ackles was looking at him, slightly amused. “You’re five minutes late, Padalecki.” He took a sip off his coffee and then scrunched up his face. “And my latte is cold! Dammit, Padalecki.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! But seriously! The coffee shop wasn’t really close by, and he was slower today. And then he had to wait almost ten minutes for the damn elevator to arrive, because he just couldn’t take the stairs today. “My deepest apologies, sir.” He hung his head in shame like the good employee he was – pretending to be.

“Eh.” Ackles raised his eyebrow. “Don’t let it happen again.” And then he looked back down at his papers and waved his hand, dismissing him.

Jared should just go. He knew it was the wise thing to do. But, just… he really needed money. He coughed until Ackles looked back up.

“Padalecki?”

“Uhm, Mr. Ackles, sir, I was wondering if it was possible, to, uhm, get an advance on my pay check?” Jared shuffled his feet and nibbled on his bottom lip. Fuck, this was hard.

“You need an advance, Padalecki? Why? Aren’t I paying you enough?” The dreaded raised eyebrow was back.

“No. No, sir, that’s not it!” Jared held up his hands. “I just… something came up and I…”

“Can’t handle your finances, Padalecki? That speaks poorly for your résumé.”

Jared bit his lip again, hard, feeling his split reopen. Right now the coppery taste was a welcome distraction. “No, no, sir. You misunderstand.” And why was he caring so much what Ackles thought of him? He did still want to get a promotion one of these days though. Jared sighed. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to let go of my last cash and…”

”Unforeseen circumstances? Were you robbed, Padalecki?”

“Uh, no, not exactly.” Although, then again…

“So what was it then? Tell me.” Ackles cocked his head and Jared could swear he saw a wicked glint in his eyes.

“I’d rather not elaborate, sir.”

“Suit yourself. You don’t tell me, I can’t give you an advance on good conscience. For all I know you’re a notorious gambler and I’d be enabling your sick habit.” Ackles scolded him. “That it, Padalecki? You owe your bookie and that’s why you’re so banged up? – Don’t think I didn’t notice the limp.”

Jared blushed, furious. How could he even think that? God, he was _so_ tempted to tell him what had really happened, that he’d saved Winchester’s life, that he’d gotten hurt and lost his money because he was a hero. But yeah. Like that would fly past Ackles. He’d probably call him a hallucinating druggie instead. “Never mind, sir.” He hung his shoulders and turned to go.

“You’re not gonna tell me?” Ackles called after him and Jared just shook his head. “Suit yourself, then.”

Jared ground his teeth and limped to his desk. This day could only get better.

And as it turned out, it did.

Close to lunch time, Miss McCoy, Ackles’ personal assistant, the one who coordinated all the other assistants and assistants to the assistants, so, _him_ , stopped by his desk to hand him an envelope. “Here you go, Padalecki.”

“What’s that?” Jared groaned, expecting the worst. “Oh god, he didn’t fire me, did he?”

Miss McCoy smirked. “Open it and find out.”

Fingers slightly trembling – he _needed_ this job, dammit – Jared ripped it open, only to find a cheque made out to $200 in it. Signed by Ackles himself. He stared at it in bewilderment, then looked up at Miss McCoy. “Uh, thank you. Thank you very much, Miss McCoy.”

“Don’t have to thank me. Jensen just told me to bring it to you.” She winked. “Said it’s a bonus and you should take it as an incentive to get better. And something about new clothes.”

Jared looked down at himself self-consciously. What was wrong with his clothes? But aside from that… he was speechless.

“Hey, and Padalecki?”

“Yeah?” Jared met her eyes again.

“Cut him some slack. Jensen is actually a pretty damn decent boss.” She gave him a look until he swallowed and nodded. Yeah, alright. Right now he couldn’t complain. “And call me Sandy. Everyone does.” She smiled and turned to go. “Have a nice day, Padalecki.”

“Uh, wait!” Jared stood up, offering his hand, but Sandy had already moved on. “Call me Jared!” He yelled after her.

Sandy turned once more. “Nah. I think I prefer Padalecki. Sounds better when you yell it.” She winked at him and Jared stood rooted to the spot. Until, right on cue, Ackles’ voice was booming through the office space, yelling “Padalecki!!!” Sandy smirked. “See?” And with that she winked again and sashayed off, leaving Jared lost in thought. Until he remembered Ackles and quickly pocketed the cheque and hobbled to face him.

“Took you long enough.” Ackles was looking up from a stack of papers when Jared entered.

“So..sorry, sir.” Jared panted. Damn knee.

“Where’s my lunch, Padalecki?” Ackles raised _the eyebrow_.

“Uhm, I was just going to get it, Mr. Ackles, sir.” Jared looked around nervously. He’d screwed up _again_.

Ackles’ cringed and then Jared remembered he’d also double-addressed him once again. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll have it delivered.”

“Oh, okay then.” Jared frowned. Why was he in here, then?

”I was just wondering if you’d like to order yours in, too? Since you’re clearly still injured from your run in with that bookie.” And Ackles didn’t exactly grin, but it came close to it, and Jared was just so shocked to find his boss cracking a joke, that he couldn’t even get offended.

“Err, that would be… that would be nice, sir.” He twisted his fingers, unsure if that was the right decision, or if maybe Ackles was just being nice, but didn’t think he’d accept. But then… then again, Jared was over-thinking. Again.

“Chicken sandwiches okay?“

”Yes. More than.“ He especially liked the way Ackles had used plural. “Thank you, sir.”

Ackles nodded. “Dismissed.” He waved his hand and turned back to his papers like usual, but Jared didn’t leave.

“Uh, sir?” He waited till Ackles looked back up. “I also wanted to thank you for the advance, sir.”

“That was a bonus.” Ackles shrugged. “I never hand out advances.”

“Uhm…” Jared frowned, wondering if that meant he just got lucky, or if all the other employees low on cash ended up with bonus cheques as well. Somehow he doubted that though. People would start to be ‘low’ every month. “Still. Thank you very much. I wouldn’t have asked if it hadn’t been an emergency.”

“But you still won’t tell me how you lost your money, right?” Ackles smirked again, leaning back in his chair and crossing his hands behind his head.

Jared shook his head. “Sorry. I’m grateful though.”

Ackles nodded. “Alright. We both got work to do.” He sat up straight again. “Lunch will be delivered to your desk.”

Jared smiled. “Thank you, sir, Mr. Ackles, sir!”

He turned to go and heard Jensen groan, “You kill me, kid.” And that’s when he knew. That’s when he realized why those green eyes had seemed so familiar. Jensen Ackles was Winchester! And that explained... no… no, wait! Wait a minute…

 _Jensen Ackles_ was _Winchester_??? What the fuck???

 

 

_Chapter Three – How We Operate_

Ever since the day Jared found out, so, well, ever since _Monday_ , Jared tried his damn hardest to please his boss. Not like he didn’t try before, he just gave it all even more effort, spent more time after hours catching up on paper work, re-organized the two year old files in the backroom during his lunch breaks, made sure to get Jensen his coffee and lunch on time. Although he still failed at that occasionally, which really wasn’t his fault, god dammit! He also messed up with some of the files, missed typos he made, crashed the server once, even though, again, that really wasn’t his fault! And he would have been perfectly able to fix it all by himself, too, if only they’d let him.

Still. He _tried_. Sandy thought it was because of the bonus. And if he even noticed, so did Ackles. Winchester. _Jensen._. Gah, this was still confusing! But Jared tried his damndest not to let it show that he _knew_. By now he also had to work hard on not calling him ‘Jensen’, which, in the long run, would probably be even worse than calling him Winchester. But he’d googled him a bit and found out as much as he could about his mysterious boss.

There wasn’t much though. Self-made millionaire, even though he came from a wealthy estate. Apparently all his inherited money was tied into funds and he ‘invested’ the interest to support various charities. Which made sense, seeing as how he fought for good in costume as well. Jared just wondered why he’d never known. But that was the thing. Jensen wasn’t flashy. Not about anything. He also couldn’t find any good gossip on him, not even if he was gay or straight.

Not like Jared stood any chance or even _wanted to_ hook up with him or anything, just… ever since he _knew_ , his fantasies had changed. For example, he’d catch Jensen changing into his costume after hours, still in his office. And oh, he’d gotten severely ‘punished’ for sneaking around and watching him. And guh! By now Jared could barely look at Jensen’s desk without getting a hard-on. Let alone his tie, which had been so expertly wrapped around his wrists. Or that large ruler there on one of the shelves.

The only thing that brought Jared back to reality and made sure he didn’t hopelessly embarrass himself every time Jensen called for him was the other thing he’d learned about Jensen. His parents had died back when Jensen was only six years old and he’d been raised by his uncle – Jeffrey Morgan – his mother’s brother. And for all Jared found out about _him_ \- dropped charges for tax fraud, dropped charges for drug possession, hell, there were even dropped charges for plain assault – and that was only on page one of google search – Jensen probably didn’t have all that much fun as a kid.

Now it was Friday and Jared couldn’t wait to get out. His knee was finally better – still hurting, but at least he could walk without getting outpaced by old ladies with canes. And he’d bought a new shirt, matching the old one in color and style. Actually, he bought three of the same, just to be sure. Jeans, he didn’t really need. His closet was full of them.

As soon as it was dark enough, he was out. Looking for _him_. It didn’t take him too long, to be honest, since he’d sorta already stalked Winchester for weeks now before they finally ‘met’. He knew his usual streets and patterns by now. Even though, of course, Winchester wasn’t dumb and varied his ways, there was still a pattern to it all.

Jared just wasn’t sure how to go about it. Just go out and say ‘Hey there, fancy meeting you here?’ Just join him wordlessly? Or strike up a ‘professional’ conversation and ask about any cons or robberies going on around here?

In the end, Jared decided on a big entrance. Jump off the roof, land in front of him, standing tall and proud, just forcing him to accept ‘Sam Colt’ as an equal.

Turns out, that was _not_ the way.

Jared’s knee turned as he jumped, then he lost his balance and ended up falling right into some trash bags, knocking the adjacent cans over with a loud clatter as well. Well, at least Winchester couldn’t ignore him now.

“What the…” Winchester had jumped back reflexively. “Jesus fuck, kid!” He rolled his eyes and went to help him up.

Jared wanted to bat his hands away, he really, really wanted to, but he also knew when to admit defeat. And… fuck, his knee was killing him again! “Thanks.”

“What’s with you and trash?” Winchester, _Jensen_ , asked him, voice amused.

Jared just snorted and mumbled something unintelligible. Because there was no answer to that. At least none he could think of. Also, he was out of breath. From excitement at seeing Jensen in costume! Not from the exercise or anything.

“Seriously, kid, haven’t we been over this? I thought you’d gotten enough pain from your last adventure.” Winchester was looking at him, more annoyed than amused now.

“No way!” Jared puffed out his chest. “I can stand a lot more pain.” And as soon as the words left his mouth and Winchester snorted, he knew it was probably the stupidest thing he could have said. “Err, I mean, I won’t get hurt anymore if you agree to train me.”

“What?” Winchester stuttered, taking a step back. “You… what?”

“I want you to train me.” Jared was putting up his best puppy dog look, hoping it would still work with the mask around his eyes. “Please!”

“You have gotta be fucking kidding me.” Winchester passed his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. “Are you insane? What makes you think I’d even encourage you to risk your life every night, let alone help you along?”

“But… but if you train me, I wouldn’t be risking my life.” Jared huffed. “I’d be just as good as you.” Maybe better, even. He was younger and larger, after all. But it was probably not going to work in his favour if he pointed that out.

“Jesus.” Winchester shook his head. “You think I’m _not_ risking my life? You think I can’t get hurt, just because I’m ‘Winchester’?” He started pacing. “Just last week you were jumping in line of a bullet for me because you thought you were saving my life.”

“Was,” Jared grumbled defiantly. But… well, damn. Way to disprove his point. “But… but you know, I’m gonna do this one way or another, and if you help me, I stand a better chance of not getting hurt.” Jared crept closer to him, trying to go for ‘puppy’ again. He knew it was cheap, but he couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t get what he wanted after he played sweet and helpless. “Could you really live with yourself, if something happened to me because you didn’t teach me?”

“Kid…” Winchester’s eyes were sad now, and Jared frowned. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you _because_ I trained you.”

“But…” Jared pouted. This was so unfair!

“No!” He held up his hand. “Listen, if I go out there and risk my life, it’s my choice. And I have my reasons. But you… you’re just a kid. Go back to your family and stop playing around. You have no idea what’s at stake here.”

“Oh, and just because your parents are dead, you get to be the only hero in town?” Jared spat back, then he gasped, his hand flying up to cover his big, dumb mouth. Oh fuck!

Winchester – Jensen – froze. ”What did you just say?“

“Nothing, I just…” Jared held up his hands and took a step back, because suddenly Winchester was coming dangerously close. And… there was nothing really Jared could do to fix this, was there?

“You!” Winchester had him backed up against the wall now, finger stabbing his chest. Jared gulped. “You don’t know anything about me. Get the fuck out of here, kid!”

Jared flinched. He’d never seen him so angry. Neither Winchester, nor Jensen. And he was honestly afraid now. “Listen, I’m…”

”I said get the fuck out!” Winchester pushed back, no longer crowding Jared. But Jared still couldn’t move. “Now! I’m serious.” Winchester all but growled and okay, Jared knew when to take a cue.

He took up all his courage and made his feet move. His first instinct was to give it another try to fix this, somehow, but… yeah, no. He bit his lip and didn’t even dare look at him anymore. His head between his shoulders – and his proverbial tail between his legs – Jared fled the scene as quickly as possible.

 

 

_Chapter Four – The Minnow & The Trout_

The next day, even though he was aching worse than ever, Jared ventured out to look for Winchester again. Because he _had to_. Had to try and do… something. He had no idea what, if he should just confess that he knew Winchester was Jensen and reveal his own identity, or if he should lie and say he guessed, or say he psychoanalysed him and it fit his profile to have dead parents, or… or just grovel and beg forgiveness.

However, Winchester was nowhere to be seen. Jared even ran a quick check Sunday night, but no luck then, either. Monday morning he was almost too sick to go to work. Torn over whether or not he should just get even, go up to Jensen’s desk and tell him he was Sam Colt, and wasn’t that hilarious? What a coincidence. And then they’d laugh and bond over it. Yeah. Or Jensen would fire his ass and then, come night, Winchester would kick his ass.

So he hedged around the coffee shop, for once not caring about being late. But eventually he had to be in. And being an hour late wouldn’t be a good start either.

Jared sighed when he entered the office, considering keeping his head low and delegating coffee duty to someone else. However, of course, he took two steps in and heard the yell.

“Padalecki! My office. Now!”

Jared’s toe nails curled when he saw the blinds to Jensen’s office drawn shut. Ever since he worked for Ackles Inc. the blinds had never been shut. This was not a good sign. “Uh, good morning, sir, Mr. Ackles.” Jared quirked a small smile.

“Close the door,” was Jensen’s only reply. He was standing with his back to the door, gazing out the window.

Jared frowned, unsure how to proceed. His first instinct was to drop the coffee, close the door from the outside and _run_ , but, yeah… that wouldn’t really work, would it? So he closed the door and walked over to the desk, Jensen still seemingly ignoring him. “Here’s your coffee, sir.” Okay, Jared, _lame_!

But Jensen finally turned around and Jared was shocked when he saw his face. He’d expected anger, or… okay, he’d expected _anger_ , but instead Jensen just looked tired. And sad. Old. Worn down. He had deep bags under his eyes, which not even his glasses could hide and was even paler than usual and, hell, even his _always_ perfectly neat hair was unruly.

Jared had no idea what to say. Except for maybe point out the coffee again. Jensen looked like he needed it. Although… he looked like he needed a _real_ coffee. Not his usual soy latte.

“How much do you want?” Jensen sat down at his desk, grabbing a pen. And… and was that a chequebook in front of him?

“Excuse me?” Jared frowned.

“How much, Padalecki?” Jensen glanced up at him briefly.

“How much for what?” Jared scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t understand.”

“You really gonna make me say it?”

And Jensen sounded so broken, Jared really, really wished he could say no, but he had no idea what the hell was going on right now. “Uh, yes?” He sat down opposite from him, because he felt even worse towering here while Jensen clearly suffered.

Jensen ground his teeth. “How much do I have to pay you to keep my secret?”

“What?” Jared’s eyes widened. _What???_

“Dammit, Padalecki!” Jensen banged his fist on the table and Jared jumped.

“But sir, I don’t… I don’t understand.” Why would he want money? And… and oh, fuck! “You knew it was _me_?”

Now Jensen really looked at him, both eyebrows raised high. “Oh, please. Kid your stature? You also didn’t even try to hide or at least change your goddamn floppy hair.” Jensen passed a hand through his own hair. “Your whole costume is a joke.”

“Is not.” Jared crossed his arms in front of his chest. He’d thought long and hard about it, thank you very much.

Jensen let out a pained noise. “God, you’re incredible. You’re really getting offended over _this_ now? Over everything else?”

Jared pouted. Well, yes? “It took me a while to come up with, is all.” He didn’t mention the hours he spend doodling different designs. Granted, he wasn’t able to sew and he couldn’t really ask his mom to design him a costume, so it was down to something he could just buy one way or another, but… he just thought it fit. With the whole ‘Sam Colt’ theme and all.

“I bet.” Jensen snorted. “Still, the question remains. How much?”

“I don’t want your money.” Jared was still offended. Maybe even more so now, when he really thought about it. Why would he want Jensen’s money to keep quiet?

“Everybody wants my money.” And Jensen sounded really old again. Which was crap, seeing how he was only twenty-nine. It just made Jared sad.

“Well, I’m not _everybody_.” Jared took a chance, leaned across the table, and covered Jensen’s hand with his own. Jensen flinched, but Jared didn’t pull away. “You of all people should know.”

Jensen raised his eyebrow. “Oh? You’re appealing to the hero honour code now?”

“We have a code?” Jared cocked his head, before he realized Jensen had mocked him again.

“Just tell me what you want, kid.” Jensen took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and aside from looking like crap, he was just incredibly cute.

Jared licked his lips. “First of, I want you to stop calling me kid.”

That earned him a little smirk from Jensen. “I’ll try. Sir, Mr. Padalecki, sir.”

Jared’s lips twitched. Okay. _Okay!_ Things were looking up, right? Jensen was cracking jokes. “Jared’s fine.”

“Alright, Jared. What else?” Jensen pulled his glasses back on, then crossed his hands on top of the desk, leaning forward. Ready to listen to Jared’s long list of demands, it seemed.

But what should he tell him? Apparently Jensen didn’t believe that he was genuine in keeping the secret. So maybe this was his chance. His _only_ chance. “I already told you. I want you to train me.”

“Not a chance.” Jensen shook his head.

“Alright then,” Jared shrugged, getting up. “I think I’ll tell Sandy first…”

“No, wait!” Jensen’s voice was panicked again and Jared felt horrible. God, fuck! Jared was such a low asshole. He turned, ready to assure Jensen once again that his secret was safe, when Jensen gave in. “Okay.”

Jared raised his eyebrow. “Okay?” Seriously? It worked?

“Yes. I’ll train you. But under my conditions.” Jensen was looking at him and Jared sat back down.

“Yes, of course! Anything you say.” Then again, maybe on second thought Jared shouldn’t give up his upper hand so easy…

“First of, you will not go out alone. When you go on patrol, you’ll do so with me present. I don’t wanna read about you getting killed off in the paper the next day.” Jensen seemed dead serious about this, so Jared refrained from cracking a joke.

Also? How much better could this go? He never wanted to go out alone in the first place. But he never even dared dream of permanently teaming up with Winchester. Oh man! Jared had to grab his thighs to stop his legs from bouncing in excitement. “Sure thing!”

Jensen raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but then went on. “And when I tell you to stay out of a fight, you’ll stay out. No jumping in to ‘rescue me’ or any other crap, are we clear?”

Jared twitched. Okay, no, that was crap. If Jensen was in any kind of real danger, of course he wouldn’t just stand by and watch. What the hell? “Crystal.” He nodded. Why stop lying now?

“No fighting my training methods, no mouthing back, no complaining when it gets too hard. You wanna stop, we’ll stop. Just say the word and it’s over and you can burn your costume. But as long as you want to stay in training, there’s no quitting. No sick days. No out for parties. No ‘But Mr. Ackles, I don’t wanna.’” Jensen said the last in a whiny voice and Jared glared at him, offended.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be the best student you ever had.” Jared smoothed out his glare and cracked his knuckles as a clear sign of ‘let’s get started already’.

Jensen half laughed, half scoffed. “Jared. You’ll be the _only_ student I ever had. And will have.”

Jared beamed. Because… oh hell yeah!

Jensen wasn’t quite as happy though. He got up and started pacing, passing his hands through his hair and rambling. “Fuck, what am I doing? I can’t take on this responsibility. I can’t train this kid. He’s a walking accident waiting to happen.”

“Hey, I’m still right here!” Jared had gotten up as well, his happy glow starting to falter.

“Yes, and that’s the fucking problem!” Jensen snapped back and Jared flinched.

“Alright.” He held up his hands. “I’ll leave you alone for your freak-out. But I’ll be back after hours for my first lesson, yes?” And Jared didn’t even give him time to reply – he might just cancel after all – and was out the door as fast as he could.

Sadly Sandy chose just that moment to come _in_ and Jared crashed right into her.

“Oh! Oh shit, Sandy!” Jared bit his lip and touched the tiny girl’s shoulders, honestly regretting his hasty exit. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

Sandy glanced up at him confused. “What? Uh, yeah, Jared, I’m…” She shuddered and Jared noticed how shaken she looked.

“No, you’re not.” Jared felt awful. “Come here, sit down.” He led her back into Jensen’s office, where Jensen had already pulled out a chair for her.

“Sandy?” Jensen asked concerned, then he glared at Jared, which, okay, yeah, Jared really deserved.

“No, I’m fine. That’s not…” She took the seat and looked at Jensen. “Oh. You already heard?”

“Heard what?” Jensen frowned, as did Jared.

“About your factory at the docks,” Sandy stated matter-of-factly.

“No, what about it?” Jensen shared a look with Jared, who shrugged.

“Oh.” Now Sandy frowned. “I thought you knew and that’s why you look so…” She shrugged apologetically. “Well, no offence, Jensen, but you look like hell.”

Jensen smirked. “None taken.”

And Jared once again felt super crap for causing both of them such grief. He sighed, tempted to leave the room. But then, he was curious about that factory now.

“Okay, then I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news when you’re apparently already down to begin with, but it’s all over the news. Your factory burned to the ground last night… and… and people were killed.” Sandy was pale, her voice slightly shaking.

“What? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Jensen was up and out of the office, where a crowd had already gathered around a radio broadcasting the news.

Jared and Sandy followed, right on time to hear the broadcaster announce that the police were looking for their prime suspect, the vigilante called Winchester.

“What the fuck? Winchester didn’t do this!” Jared exclaimed loudly, causing half the crowd to turn and look at him. And Jensen to glare at him. Hard. Jared gulped. “I mean, why the hell would he…”

“Mister Padalecki,” Jensen interrupted him, “We have no idea what this so-called ‘hero’ would do or wouldn’t do. For all we know he walked in there and killed my men in cold blood, then set the factory on fire to cover up his tracks.”

”That’s bullshit and you know it!” Jared stared at him in disbelief. Why wouldn’t he defend himself? He was getting accused of burning down his own factory. That didn’t make any sense! And judging by the reactions of his co-workers, some of them even believed that he was guilty. “You of all…”

”You have to excuse Padalecki here,” Jensen interrupted him yet again, clapping his shoulder in a seemingly friendly gesture, just he was squeezing way, way too hard. Jared winced, but Jensen didn’t ease up. “It seems he might have a crush on our hero in the tight leather pants, so he can’t think clearly anymore. Am I right, Padalecki?” Jensen grinned, but it wasn’t friendly or fun at all.

Jared blushed. Couldn’t help it. Also, his shoulder fucking hurt, thank you very much! “Do not,” he responded weakly, but the others were smirking at him now, one of the girls honest to god _winking_ at him. Well, fuck! Jared squirmed.

“Hate to break it to you, but people running around with loaded shotguns are usually bound to use them. And this Winchester guy is certainly no hero. Especially not if he burned down my factory and killed my men.” Jensen gave him one hard, last look, before he nodded to the crowd and disappeared into his office.

Jared saw him reach for his phone before the door fell shut, blocking his view. He sighed, feeling defeated and utterly humiliated. And just a few minutes ago, things had been looking so good.

Why didn’t Jensen defend himself? Why was he so eager to condemn his second identity? He didn’t actually do it, did he? Jared paled, looking at the closed door in a new light. He hadn’t spotted him on patrol last night. And Jensen had looked awful this morning. Surely it couldn’t have all been because Jared knew his secret. The more he thought about it…

But no. _Hell_ no! Winchester would never do that. He’d never take an innocent life.

Suddenly, there was an arm on his shoulder again. Soft and gentle, this time. “I believe you,” Sandy gave him a small smile. “Winchester didn’t do this. Someone set him up.”

Jared sighed. “How can you be sure?”

Sandy looked around, then shook her head and nudged Jared into the direction of their break room. Jared followed her in it and thankfully it was empty. Which wasn’t such a surprise though, since everyone still seemed to be glued to the radio, listening to them slander Winchester.

“He saved me, you know?” Sandy told him after they’d sat down at one of the tables.

“Winchester?” Jared asked, as if it wasn’t so obvious.

Sandy nodded, then leaned back in her chair, wrapping her arms around her middle and looking away. “You see, I had this boyfriend… Tom.” Sandy’s lips twitched. “He was perfect. Smart, handsome, always nice.” And Jared had a bad feeling about this suddenly. “Until he wasn’t,” she concluded.

Jared just nodded, unsure what to say. Sandy glanced at him briefly, then went back to studying the coffee maker.

“After I finally left him… he just snapped, I guess.” Sandy shrugged. “And one night, after I was done from a late shift and walking to my car, he just grabbed me in the parking lot and threw me into his trunk. Kidnapped me, I guess.” She bit her lip. “I came to tied up in his cellar and, well, you don’t need to hear the rest.” She shrugged again. “Just… Winchester showed up, saved me.” She shivered and Jared wanted to reach over and comfort her, but something about the way she was hugging herself told him she wouldn’t appreciate him touching her right now. “I know he would have killed me otherwise,” she concluded in a small voice.

“Sandy…” Jared leaned close, hand hovering over the table, still itching to touch. “I’m so sorry.”

”I have no idea how he found me, how he even knew I was missing, but I’m certainly grateful.” She smiled again, making eye contact. “And he was so gentle, Jared! When he untied me and carried me out, not letting go of me once until we’d reached the hospital. And he made sure I was looked after immediately.” Her gaze drifted off once more. “I just wish I’d remember what he was telling me. But I was so out of it, I just… I finally felt save in his arms and his voice was soothing. Sometimes it still feels like it was all just a dream.” She finally got up to get a cup of coffee. “Nightmare with a happy ending. The hero coming to slay the dragon and save the fair princess.” Sandy chuckled. “Except for, you know, with me instead. Neither fair nor a princess.”

”Now, don’t sell yourself short.” Jared got up as well, eager to change her mood. “You’re _very_ fair.”

She snorted. “Maybe I was, but not anymore.” Sandy poured him a cup of coffee as well. “I could totally kick your ass.”

”Oh?” Jared raised his eyebrow, smiling when Sandy nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, see, that’s why I will also be eternally grateful to Jensen.” She took a sip of her coffee and leaned against the counter.

“Jensen?” Jared cocked his head. Did she _know_?

”Uhuh.” She nodded again. “After, when I was back, I just wanted to go to work again. I’d felt bad for missing so many weeks already.”

 _Weeks._ Jared felt sick. He was tempted to ask what had happened with Tom, anyways, but he didn’t want to pry.

“But Jensen wouldn’t let me,” Sandy continued. “My first morning, he called me into his office and told me to take a paid vacation, just fly off to somewhere nice and relax. I told him I’d much rather stay and work, but he wouldn’t believe me. I was devastated.”

Jared made a face. “Seriously? Why?” Paid vacation? He wouldn’t say no to that.

“I was still terrified. Last thing I wanted was to be somewhere strange, all alone, with nothing but time to _think_.” She blew steam from her mug and took another sip. “I needed something to do. Work. A busy schedule. As busy as possible and surrounded by people. When I told him, he understood. And doubled my workload.” Sandy smirked and Jared once again frowned, because yeah… he wouldn’t have been happy about that. “Offered to pay for counselling, too, but I declined. Then he offered self-defence class and that I gladly accepted.”

“So that’s why you can kick my ass now?” Jared teased her.

“That, and the jujutsu and tae-bo classes I followed up with.” Sandy winked at him, and okay, Jared was impressed. She probably _could_ kick his ass.

He put the mug down and held up his hands. “I have to correct myself. You’re no fair princess, you’re a fearsome warrior princess.”

“And don’t you forget it.” Sandy smiled and pointed her finger at him.

“I’m sorry though.” Jared carefully nudged her with his shoulder. “For what you had to go through.”

”Don’t be.” Sandy raised her chin. “First of, it wasn’t your fault and secondly, only good came out of it, so don’t you feel sorry for me.”

Jared bit his lip. Okay, fuck, yeah, she didn’t tell him to get pitied. He just couldn’t help it though. Just the thought of Sandy, tiny and cheery as she was, in the hands of that monster…

“You know that doubled workload?” Sandy changed the topic. “When Jensen saw how I handled it, he promoted me and I’ve been his personal assistant ever since. Best job ever.”

Jared still found that dubious, because even though Jensen clearly had his good sides, he was still a bossy, yelling ass most of the time. But hey, whatever made her happy. “Good for you.”

Sandy agreed and looked back out, her face falling a little. “Except for today though, maybe.” She sighed and finished her coffee, putting the mug into the dishwasher. “I better go and help Jensen.”

“You do that.” Jared nodded and decided to stay in here for a little while longer. He didn’t think he could already face the angry mob outside again. Especially not after Sandy’s story. Which had only just fuelled his love for Winchester.

… His very platonic, professional _admiration_ , that was.

Eventually the crowd dispersed and Jared finally went to work. However he didn’t even make it to lunch time before he heard it again.

“Padalecki!!!”

 

 

_Chapter Five – Slow Dancing In a Burning Room_

Turned out, Jensen was going on location and he wanted Jared to come along. Because, as he phrased it, loud enough for half of the office to hear, “Maybe you need to see first hand what your hero is capable of so you’ll understand he’s anything but.”

Sandy squeezed his arm sympathetically as he passed her, then he was off with Jensen. Good. Jared itched to talk to him alone, to demand answers, to just generally yell at him. Even if he risked pissing Jensen off. Jared still had the upper hand in their arrangement, right?

Sadly though, some guy from Ackles’ public relations department trailed along as well and all Jared could do was sit uncomfortably in the back of said guy’s car and glare in the rear view mirror. He wished he could remember PR-guy’s name so he could at least properly curse him and his stupid-ass tiny car. Jared sighed. This was so not his day.

And for the next hour, it only got worse. Because he got to stand at the sidelines, nothing to do but watch Ackles argue with various suits, or turn, and watch an ever-growing group of morons forming across the factory, holding up signs such as “No more vigilantes” or Winchester’s name crossed out, or his personal favourite “Keep the streets safe!” Which was just what Winchester – and Jared himself – were fucking _doing_ , thank you very much.

Jared never knew there’d be so many haters. Maybe this was what Ackles had wanted to show him. Or maybe he just wanted to be an ass. And yes, it was _Ackles_ again. Because if he wouldn’t know it any better, his boss might as well be standing across the street, with the rest of them, maybe holding up a sign with ‘Sam Colt’ crossed out.

But just as Jared was about to go back to the car, Ackles started moving, snapping his fingers in Jared’s direction. “Padalecki! Come on.“

And Jared wasn’t his damn dog! He still ducked his head and followed though, because… because, ah, fuck. Trained reflex to hearing his boss yell his name by now. Jared sighed and caught up with him. “Now what?”

Ackles turned. “Now we go in.” He picked up two yellow hardhats and handed one of them to Jared, who just looked at it.

“Seriously?” He regarded the hardhat warily, then glanced over at the building. The very black, still smoke ridden, highly unstable building. “You think that’s safe?”

Ackles snorted, then leaned closer. “Sam Colt. Hero extraordinaire. _But only if it’s safe._ ”

Jared blushed his darkest shade of red for today, unsure if he should be embarrassed or just angry. “Gimme the damn hardhat.” He glared at his boss and ripped it out of his fingers, putting it on while he was walking, leading the way. Which was so very stupid on every level, he just couldn’t help it. Dammit.

Once inside the empty hallway, Jared stopped and turned to look at Ackles for directions, because he honestly had no idea what they were even doing here. However, Ackles surprised him by using the moment to push him up against the nearest pillar, arm against Jared’s throat, holding him immobile.

Jared gasped, trying to fight back, but Jensen was stealing his oxygen. Jensen’s face was _close_. Jared could feel his hot breath graze his cheeks. This could be sexy, if he wasn’t so scared right now.

“Now listen up, punk,” Jensen started, “I’ve just about had it with you today. First you beg me to train you, then when I take you, you complain about safety.” His nostrils flared. “So tell me, Jared, are you scared? Do you want to go home and hide under your bed?”

Jared breathed hard, fighting the instinct to nod. But that would be it, then. Jensen would call it quits and Winchester would never train him. Never. He slowly shook his head.

“No?” Jensen pressed down harder on his windpipe and Jared wheezed. “But you should be scared, Jared.” He waited a few excruciating seconds before he continued. “Because if you ever come this close to revealing my secret identity to the _entire. Office. Staff_ ,” and Jensen emphasized each word with a fresh squeeze, “again, I will fucking kill you.”

”B..but…” Jared tried to assure him that he’d never do that, but Jensen wouldn’t let him.

“No. No ‘buts’, Padalecki. There are no buts and no excuses. This was unforgivable.” Jensen looked at him, waiting until Jared made eye contact. “And it won’t happen again. Do. You. Understand?” Again with the squeeze pattern and Jared struggled futilely.

All he could do was nod.

“Good.” Jensen slowly eased up. “Don’t make me regret this.” He let go and Jared’s hands flew up to his neck immediately. “I might have agreed to train you, but I never said anything about not firing your ass from my office.”

Jared gasped, trying to say ‘please don’t’, but he still couldn’t talk. Which was probably better though, with the way Jensen was still glaring at him. Jared might hate his job right now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t _need_ it. So he just dutifully nodded.

“Now, do you want to learn something?” Jensen raised his eyebrow inquisitively.

No, he’d much rather go home now, thanks. Jared ground his teeth and nodded.

“Alright then, let’s get started.” Jensen started going deeper into the building and Jared followed at a safe distance. “Because you were right. I didn’t do this.” Jared opened his mouth, about to give a snappy comment, but Jensen didn’t give him the chance. “But you couldn’t have known that.” He turned. “Lessons number five and six. Trust no one and nobody is innocent.”

Jared frowned. “But I trust you. I have to.” He cleared his throat because his voice was still scratchy. Damn him! But still. “You’re my teacher.”

Jensen stopped dead in his tracks and Jared almost bumped right into him. “No one, Jared.” He gave him one of his serious looks and Jared swallowed. “Especially not superiors.”

He had a feeling that Jensen wouldn’t let this go, so Jared nodded again, wondering who it was that had stabbed Jensen in the back, since he’d obviously been burned before.

“So we’re here to look for clues.” Jensen started walking again. “Even if the whole building could collapse on top of us at any minute.” He waved his arm around casually and Jared ducked, swallowing hard. Until Jensen turned around to grin at him. Alright, so we were back at mocking him. Which was an improvement, so Jared shut up about it.

“But why would they even think it was Winchester?” Jared shuddered as they passed the white outlines of two bodies, which, thank fuck, weren’t actually still lying there anymore.

“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Jensen shrugged. “Apparently they have an eyewitness who saw him leave the building shortly before the fire broke out, but that can’t be it. I mean, the crazies see me all the time.”

Jared smirked at Jensen’s use of pronouns. He still seemed a little unsure when he was talking about Winchester. Which made sense, since Jared imagined that before him, he had nobody to actually talk to who knew his secret.

“A store front window smashed? I saw Winchester. Car stolen? Winchester took it. My cat is trapped in a tree, Winchester must have put her there.” Jensen rolled his eyes. “You saw them Jared, saw how much they like me.” He stopped again. “You still think this is the life for you? You still wanna be a ‘hero’?” Jensen’s fingers made the appropriate quotation marks.

Jared nodded, this time really meaning it. “The people you saved, they love you. They know you’re innocent. Of this,” Jared quickly added the last part, not wanting a repeat of ‘the lesson’.

Jensen snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

”They do!” Jared assured him.

“You can’t know that.” Jensen led them further into the factory still. “And before you go on, _you_ don’t count.”

Jared pouted. “I didn’t mean myself.” Besides, _he_ had saved _him_. But by now he’d given up on ever receiving the proper credit. “I was talking about Sandy.”

“I never saved Sandy.” Jensen turned to look at him.

“Yes, you did! She told me! Today.” Jared huffed. “She told me this morning.”

“She did, huh?” Jensen raised his eyebrow, but then shook his head again. “Still. I didn’t save her.”

”But…” Jared started to protest, but Jensen once again wouldn’t let him.

“ _I_ didn’t save Sandy. Sandy saved herself,” he clarified. “You should have seen her, Jared.” Jensen passed his hands through his hair, eyes far away. “Down in that basement, after that creep…” He trailed off. “It would have broken the best of us. But not Sandy. Sandy stands right back up, demanding work and excelling at it. Sandy gets stronger, goes to self-defence, excels there, too.” Jensen smirked. “Sandy didn’t need saving, she just needed someone to unlock her shackles. She probably would have beaten him up right then and there herself, if she could have.”

Jared smiled as well. He didn’t know Sandy quite that long yet, but he liked her better and better with each passing day. And now he also admired her.

“If anything, I failed her.” Jensen continued. “It took me a week to even realize she was missing and then several more to find out why. I didn’t invest all that much time in getting to know my employees back then. A mistake.”

Jared cocked his head, wondering what that meant. Jensen still wasn’t the kinda boss who’d chit-chat with you during lunch breaks and ask about your personal life, so… back then he was worse, how? He doubted Jensen would elaborate though, so instead he asked the more pressing question. “Hey, whatever happened to that Tom guy, anyways?”

“I sent him away.” Jensen smirked. “Far, far away. And he’s never coming back.”

Jared swallowed. “You didn’t…”

“No, I didn’t kill him.” Jensen sighed. “But if I’d seen Sandy before I caught up with him, I would have.” He clenched his fists.

“So what…” Jared wanted specifics, but before he could finish his question, Jensen had stopped again, going dead still and then kneeling down. “What?” Jared looked over Jensen’s shoulder.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Jensen held up what looked like a cigar, and Jared frowned.

“Is that a cigar?” Why would that be important? “Oh, did that start the fire?” He tried to get a better look, but before he could, Jensen stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

“It’s nothing, I told you.” Jensen was ash-white though, so Jared strongly doubted he was telling the truth. “But now I know why they think Winchester did this.”

Jared frowned, not getting it. “Why?”

“Look.” Jensen pointed a few feet away, and now Jared saw it, too.

“Oh.” It was his mask. Or, a mask just like his. Lying there on the floor, looking ripped off. Surrounded by several more white body outlines and now he could also spot a stray bullet casing. A rifle casing. The police must have bagged the rest. “So they think Winchester got unmasked and shot every eyewitness to protect his identity?”

Jensen solemnly nodded. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

”But you wouldn’t kill innocent bystanders just to protect your identity! That’s bullshit!” Jared passed his hand through his hair. Besides, what did they think he was doing inside the factory to begin with?

”Don’t be too sure on that one, Padalecki.” Jensen leaned closer, but there was no real threat behind his voice. Because, yeah, intimidating Jared was one thing, but actually firing his gun at so many people? Jensen would never do that!

“But…” Jared cocked his head again. “Hey wait, why is your mask lying here? Did somebody impersonate you for a robbery?”

“Something like that, yeah.” Jensen bit his lip, looking thoughtful.

“What else?” Jared frowned. Why would… “Oh fuck. You think they deliberately framed you, don’t you?”

Jensen looked at him, his face blank. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for, Padalecki.”

Jared smiled. Even if it was a horrible thought that somebody would have it out for Winchester like this. But yay! Winchester just made him a compliment on his detective skills! Sort of. And... "You know who did it, don't you?" Something about that cigar...

"Don't be ridiculous." Jensen's expression hardened. "Now you're just showing off what a rookie you are." Jensen scoffed. "Come on, let's get out of here. We found what we came in for."

And with that, Jensen strode back out, and Jared had trouble keeping up with him. And what was that he'd said before? About not trusting anyone? Because right now Jared was damn sure that he was being bullshitted. Jensen knew who was framing him. And it scared the crap out of him. To be honest, that scared Jared more than anything else today. Because if Winchester was afraid, then it had to be _really_ bad.

 

 

_Chapter Six - You Don't Know Me_

The next day, Jensen decided to take Jared home with him for his first training session. Physical training. And even though Jared should still be pissed at him - for threatening him, for withholding information, for just being plain _mean_ \- he just couldn’t help being giddy. Finally he’d see Winchester’s lair!

And, to be honest, he was curious about _Jensen’s_ lair just as much. While he’d found out his address, he couldn’t find any pictures of his house online and it had been too far away to pass by with his banged up knee. But now Jensen was taking him, in his car. Jared beamed.

Even though it was only a Hybrid, it was still a cool car, because it was Jensen’s. Still, Jared couldn’t help but wonder. “What other cars do you have?”

“Huh?” Jensen glanced at him distractedly. “What do you mean ‘what other cars’?”

“Well,” Jared shrugged. “Besides the car you take to work.”

Jensen chuckled. “What, you mean the Winchester mobile?”

Jared cocked his head. He’d never seen Winchester drive, but he must… Jensen’s lips were twitching and Jared scowled. Mocked, yet again. “No.” He rolled his eyes. “I mean, for weekend trips or just for collector’s sake or such.”

“Why would I need a car for that?” Jensen gave him a look.

“I dunno.” Now Jared was insecure. “Aren’t you loaded? You must have a real car somewhere.”

“Jared. This _is_ a real car.” Jensen patted his steering wheel lovingly. “This baby gets me to where I want, when I want. It’s safe and reliable and, best of all, it doesn’t guzzle down gas like one of _those_ monsters.” He nodded towards a Mustang just parked on the curb as they were passing.

Jared regarded the Mustang longingly. He didn’t have any car at all, but he’d gladly take a “monster” like that.

“What?” Jensen looked at him again. “You think just because I could afford it, I need to have a garage stocked full of cars?” He snorted. “Seriously.”

Jared blushed. He just hated how Jensen could always do this to him. Make him feel young and stupid. And ruin his mood. Although he hadn’t succeeded there. Much. Jared was still bouncy. And hey, if Jensen didn’t invest in cars, maybe his mansion was stocked full of _art_. He glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Yeah… Jensen seemed like the kinda guy who’d invest in art.

“What?” Jensen frowned.

“What, what?” Jared scratched the back of his neck.

“You were staring.”

Jared flinched. Caught! “Was not!” Even though now he might even be able to admit it, since for once he wasn’t staring and thinking about sex. Focusing in on Jensen’s pretty lips, or his cute glasses, wondering how much he’d see without them, if he’d be helpless when Jared took them off for a kiss, and hid them behind his back and make Jensen punish him. And then…

“Padalecki! You’re staring _right now_!”

Ah, fuck! “Just, uh, wondering if you were into art, is all.”

“Why? Because I’m _loaded_. And rich guys collect all kinds of useless shit?” Jensen had both eyebrows raised now.

“No!” _Yes._ Dammit! “No, you just… look like, err, like you might enjoy art, is all.” Jared bit his lip.

”Really? Tell me Jared, how does someone who enjoys art usually look like?” They had stopped at a red light so Jensen could openly look at him. His lips were still twitching, but Jared couldn’t quite tell if he was angry, or just highly amused. Would be very nice to know for sure before he continued this conversation.

“Kinda… like you?” Jared tried.

“Like me?” Jensen still didn’t show any clear signs either way.

Jared sighed. “Well, you know… you look like you could be in an art piece yourself, so, uh…”

Jensen’s lips stopped twitching and instead he turned a deep pink. And wasn’t that adorable? Jared was now openly staring and Jensen wouldn’t look at him at all. Then his expression changed again and he grinned at him. “Aw, Padalecki. Do you have a crush on me? I thought it was just the leather you were into. But it’s _me_?” And the tone in which he spoke made it clear that he was anything but serious about this.

“Fuck you.” Jared growled and sunk deeper in his seat, turning away and looking out his window instead. He could hear Jensen chuckling next to him and his scowl only grew.

Thankfully not long after, they took a turn into a pretty deserted street, just a house here and there, lots of trees. And fences shielding what could only be impressive mansions from the all-too-curious eye of random gawkers. Such as Jared.

He was sitting up straight again, coming alive when Jensen activated a device in his car and a large iron gate opened for them. There were so many trees on his ground that Jared couldn’t see anything. He wondered just what kinda palace Jensen must live in, just starting to imagine it – white marble column in the entryway, a large pool in the back, definitely a huge chandelier hanging inside… but then he actually saw it and his face fell.

”That’s your house?” But it was so… small and non-descript. Just your average house. It might as well have been located right in the middle of the city. It just… felt out of place here.

“What?” Jensen was definitely annoyed now. “Oh, don’t tell me. You expected nothing short of a small castle, with a butler and several maids waiting here to greet me and grant me my every wish. And now that you’re here, they’d cater to your every whim as well.”

Jared cocked his head. He hadn’t been this far yet, but now that Jensen mentioned it… “But you don’t have any, right? Maids?”

“No, I don’t.” Jensen parked the car, then shrugged. “Alright, I do have someone cleaning it and I have a gardener, but that’s just because I have no time at all for these things.” He seemed stricken about it and Jared frowned.

“But Jensen, you’re CEO of your own company. _And_ you’re Winchester. Nobody will begrudge you for taking all the help you can get.” He waved his arm around. “Hell, I don’t even know how you do both of those jobs to begin with.”

Jensen tried to hide his smile by getting out of the car. And was that another blush Jared saw there? “Well, someone has to.” Jensen shrugged it off.

“And hey!” Jared sidled up next to him and bumped his shoulder. “Now you have help with your second job as well.”

That wasn’t such a wise move though, it seemed, because Jensen slowly turned, looking him up and down, then taking a step away. “Yeah. We’ll see about that.”

Ah well. Jared shrugged. Better than a snort. Jensen was making progress. And hopefully soon so would Jared.

“And speaking of, we should stop wasting time.” Jensen locked his car and punched a code into a pad hidden behind a bush, then, after his front door opened, he punched in another code into another alarm system. Jared raised his eyebrow. Apparently this wasn’t just a regular house after all. - It was Winchester’s base as well. And right on cue, Jensen asked, “I bet you want to see my lair?”

Jared nodded eagerly. Although he was still a little unsure _whose_ lair he wanted to see first. He wouldn’t mind a closer look into Jensen’s private rooms, either. He still couldn’t read him and maybe it might give him some insight.

Winchester was different. Easier. _Familiar._

Jensen led him down a stairwell and past a nicely equipped fitness room. “This is where _Winchester_ ,” and Jensen made air-quotes again, “works out.”

Jared smelled chlorine and sure enough they came past a large pool next. It was just a plain rectangular shape though. Built for swimming, nothing else. “So, does _Jensen_ have his own pool, too? Maybe outside?”

“Why would _Jensen_ need a pool?” Jensen strode on. “All Jensen does is sit in an office all day.”

“Yeah, but he’s gotta relax sometime, doesn’t he?” Jared had trouble keeping up because he’d much rather just keep exploring a bit instead of rushing past everything.

Jensen snorted. “I don’t need a pool to relax. Besides, I don’t have time to waste on such trivial shit.”

Jared gasped. “But… but… but, a _pool_! Outside!” Wow, Jensen really was all work, no play, wasn’t he? They’d reached a huge, solid, locked door now and Jared’s mouth fell open. “Dude, is that a panic room?”

“Where did you think Winchester was working from?” Jensen punched in another long code and Jared briefly wondered if they were all the same, or how else Jensen would be able to memorize them all. He doubted it though, seeing how obsessed he was. He probably had a different, random number-sign-letter pattern for each of his security codes.

But still. A _panic room_? He’d always envisioned something like an… “Underground lair?” He suggested.

Jensen laughed. “Yeah. Good luck explaining why you need to have one of those built to your architect.”

And okay… Jared had never thought about that. In his mind, the base had always just been there. Heavily equipped with computers and technology, large monitors overlooking the city and all.

“A panic room is easy, though,” Jensen continued. “Especially if you’re rich. You have no idea how much you can get simply by playing the super neurotic, paranoid conspiracy nut.”

The room opened and Jared gasped again. Because it wasn’t just one room, the space was even bigger than Jared’s apartment!

Jensen grinned. “They didn’t even flinch when I said I needed it big enough to live in here, when _it all fell apart_.” Jared followed him inside, still gaping. “How do you think I got the bulletproof clothes, and my Winchester, for that matter?”

Jared shrugged. He’d never thought about that either.

“There’s a whole underground market for sick millionaires. Because the secret is, Jared,” Jensen leaned closer conspiratorially, “The more money you have, the more people you think are out to get you.” He smacked his lips. “More often than not they’re right, too.”

Jared cocked his head. Okay now, Jensen made being rich sound only half as fun as it should be. “But are you never afraid they’ll find out what you need the gear for? Or do some of them _know_?”

”Fuck, no!” Jensen’s eyes widened. “Like I’d tell some creep who sells me an illegal gun that I’ll use it to hunt down his buddies. And _him_ , if he’s not careful.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Nobody in their right mind would ever expect Jensen Ackles to dress up at night and become a crime-fighting vigilante.”

Jared had to admit that was true. With all the time he spend obsessing about Winchester, he’d never once suspected he’d be _Jensen_ in real life. “Okay, yeah.”

“Wait, though.” Jensen poked at his chest. “How did _you_ find out, anyways? Did you follow me home one night? Did you stalk me?”

“What? No!” He only stalked him on the streets, never followed him home. There was a difference. No, _really_. Jared coughed. “It was just something you said to me, as Jensen. Same sentence. That’s when I knew.”

Jensen paled. “Well, fuck me.” He passed his hands through his hair. “Should have fucking been more careful.” He bit his lip. “You remember what it was?”

 _As clear as day._ “Nope, sorry.”

Jensen frowned, but then let out a deep sigh. “Whatever. Too late to change it now, anyways, isn’t it?”

Jared’s face fell. Why did he still sound so bitter about it?

“I could still kill you though.” Jensen tapped his chin thoughtfully. “If I do it in here and bury your body on my grounds, nobody will ever notice.”

“Uh…” Jared swallowed. He knew Jensen was kidding. He _knew_ it. Yet still… he _was_ kidding, right?

Jensen laughed. “Come on, kid. You need to learn the basics.”

Jared scowled but followed him into one of the rooms. There was a computer on a desk in the corner, but otherwise it was all full of newspaper clippings and charts. Jared could make out several gangs and their ranks scribbled down with a black marker, connections drawn in red. Now this was more like he’d imagined. No super-tech though, but at least a proper place to research. “Why do you have so many papers? No net connection down here?”

“No, I do.” Jensen pointed to the lone computer in the corner, and Jared felt kinda sorry for the neglected baby. “It just always takes too frigging long to find anything. By the time I have my search parameters finally set up, I’ve already read through three different papers.”

Jared’s eyes widened. “Seriously? You set your own search parameters? Every time?” If it wouldn’t be so sad, he’d be laughing. “I can write you a program for that in five minutes.”

Jensen blinked at him. “You can do that?”

“’Course I can.” He walked over to Jensen’s PC. “May I?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just moved the mouse and the screen sprang back to life. “Dude!” Jared turned around, outraged. “You didn’t even password protect it?”

“Why?” Jensen shrugged. “There’s nothing on it. Besides, nobody gets inside this room.”

“Yeah, but…” He shook his head. It was the _principle thing_. Jesus. He sat down and opened the editor, writing the program practically on auto pilot. This was sad. Winchester was a total tech-noob. Who’d have thought?

When he was done, he turned to find Jensen leaning against the wall, staring at him intently.

“What?” Jared pushed his hair out of his eyes self-consciously.

“If you can do _that_ , then why are you the guy who brings me my lunch every day?” Jensen came over and knelt down next to him, taking the mouse and experimenting with the program.

Jared was speechless. “It wasn’t my idea to become your personal slave, thank you very much.”

Jensen smirked up at him, eyes sparkling, and Jared blushed at his words. “My own personal slave. Now, now, Padalecki. Watch out what you’re offering here.”

And why were his eyes sparkling? Jared raised an eyebrow. Would Jensen be interested in a little extra service? But nah, he was just mocking him again. He sighed. “As you should know, I don’t have any diploma, never been to college. Nobody’s gonna hire me for a tech job just on my word that I can do it.”

“Hm.” Jensen cocked his head. “Still, you should have said something. I’d like to think I give people a chance.”

“I know,” Jared nodded. “It’s what I heard. It’s why I started working at Ackles, Inc.”

“I can sense a ‘but’ coming…” Jensen smiled.

“I didn’t know I’d end up mostly running stupid errands for you and never getting entrusted with any real work.” He shrugged.

Jensen looked guilty. “Ah, but still. You need to learn how to speak up, Padalecki. Just stand up for your rights.” He stood back up. “You know I would have stopped sending you on coffee and lunch runs if you’d only once told me that this was not the job you were hired for, that it was beneath you.” Jensen pointed at him. “You just make a way too easy target of yourself, Jared.”

Jared frowned, looking up at him. Was he for real? Gah! He wasn’t sure who he was more angry at right now, Jensen or himself. Jared gave a short laugh, because… _yeah._ “Wait, so does this mean tomorrow morning I don’t have to bring you your coffee anymore?”

“Ah,” Jensen grinned. “After you just offered me your slave services so generously? I don’t think so, Padalecki.” He petted Jared’s head and Jared huffed, standing back up as well. Least he was taller than him, now. “But you may bring yourself one and charge it to me.” Jensen winked.

Jared’s eyebrow twitched and he ground his teeth. Dammit, he should have known Jensen was still playing him.

Jensen smiled and glanced back at the screen, watching the program run and spit out info on robberies, vandalism and ‘places of interest’, such as new exhibitions or construction sites. Nothing easier than breaking into a store when everyone thinks the noise is coming from construction work. “ _Then_ we can talk about what other duties to get for you around the office.”

“Really?” Jared was shocked.

“Sure.” Jensen nodded, serious for a second, then he grinned again. “I’ve never had a slave before. I’m sure I can think of a few interesting tasks for you.”

Jared narrowed his eyes, but couldn’t wipe the smile off his face for too long. Jensen was just joking again. And if he _wasn’t_ … well then, Jared could think of a few interesting tasks he might perform for Jensen as well.

 

 

_Chapter Seven – Splinter_

The evening had ended way too soon for Jared’s tastes. Just as they’d gotten over the awkwardness and misunderstandings, Jensen sent him back home. Didn’t even drive him, just gave him directions to the next bus station. It sucked that he wouldn’t take him along on his ‘evening strolls’, but Jared had high hopes that it would happen soon, because Jensen had taken his measurements and said he’d get him bulletproof clothing. It was incredibly hard to hide his giddy grin while Jensen once again lectured him on the dangers of real bullets and the job in general.

On Wednesday, Jensen made true on his promise and gave him a few more significant tasks at work. He was still his lunch and coffee slave though. Then again, by now Jared didn’t mind so much. It gave him a valid reason to be in his office, to just _see_ him. Maybe after a while, they could have meals together and talk about their evening activities. And maybe then, they could finally talk about those other slave duties Jared was now more than ever itching to perform for him.

If he was quite honest, he’d always had a slight crush on his boss. But now that he knew he was _Winchester_ … the combined attraction was toxic. In the evening, Jensen first gave him shooting lessons – in his very own shooting range, which was actually his garage, which might have held a couple nice cars for any other millionaire – and afterwards, he had Jared lift weights and swim laps in the pool. While Jensen just watched on, took his time, and yelled at him to be better.

It really should have been awful and hell, and to a degree, it _was_ , but Jared just couldn’t help but fantasize about Jensen giving him a _real_ workout. Maybe he’d beckon him closer when he got out of the pool, and he’d press up against Jensen, get his work suit all wet before he’d rip it off and then they’d do it right there, against the wall. Or maybe in his gym room, sitting on one of the weight benches. And Jensen would still make him lift weights while he rode him.

Needless to say, Jared had a very hard time climbing out of the pool, what with the damn tiny swim trunks Jensen had given him revealing _everything_. He quickly grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his waist, pretending nothing was up. Jensen wouldn’t even look at him though, instead he was busy scribbling notes on his chart – yes, he was keeping a chart of Jared’s progress. Although Jared could have sworn that Jensen was flushed a healthy shade of pink. It might have just been his imagination though.

Thursday he had the evening off. Or well, not really. Jensen gave him a list of names that he was supposed to research for the next day. But he wouldn’t tell him why. Jared wouldn’t put it past him to hold a pop quiz, but he still didn’t see the point in this lecture. He looked most of them up, though. Rich or at least influential people, all of them.

Jared was mostly curious about what their connection to Jensen – or maybe to Winchester – might be, so he spend a lot of time clicking around rather than focusing on the individuals. He couldn’t really find anything though aside from a few pictures at fundraisers.

And he didn’t make the connection until Friday, when Sandy was calling him in for a tux fitting.

He entered her office with a big frown on his face. “Excuse me, Sandy? I think you got something wrong. Why would I need a tux fitting?”

Sure enough though, Sandy was holding a black tuxedo in her hands, lighting up when he entered. “Why, you have one in your wardrobe already?”

“I have ten!” Jared chuckled and shook his head. “No, shit, what would I need a tux for? I’m not planning on getting married anytime soon.” Or, _ever_.

“So what are you gonna wear to the fundraiser tonight?” She raised her eyebrow and held the tux to his form, frowning.

“Fundraiser?” His frown was back as well.

”The fundraiser, Jared! The one Jensen is gonna take us to?” She gave him a look and tapped his forehead. “Hello? Anyone in there?”

Jared blinked. She obviously assumed he knew about this. Jensen! Argh! “Uh, right.”

Sandy shook her head. “You know, it’s a big honor he’s taking you to take care of tech support. Some others here would kill to take your place.” She glanced outside and closed the door behind Jared. “What with all the delicious free food and more importantly, free drinks.” She winked.

“Free food?” Jared’s eyes lit up. “ _Free drinks?_ ” Tech support? Oh, whatever. Whatever led to him getting apparently delicious free food. He’d wear a tux for that.

Sandy smiled. “Alright, I think you need to pull it on. I can’t tell otherwise.”

Jared shrugged, taking the hanger out of her hands. “Sure.” He looked around the office, then back at Sandy, who was waiting expectantly. “Uh, here?”

“Or outside in the hallway if you prefer.” She nudged him. “Sadly Jensen’s office is out of the question. He asked not to be disturbed.”

Jared blushed. “Uh, why would I want to change in his office? I’m in there way too often as it is.” He tried to smile and go for casual, but Sandy was just smirking.

“Right? When you can change in here, with me.” She winked again and Jared gulped. Not like he really minded all that much, but… okay, no, he did mind. Sandy laughed and nudged him again then put him out of his misery. “I’ll just go wait outside.”

Waiting until she had closed the door, Jared walked behind her desk to be shielded, just in case, and then changed into the suit. It felt weird, wearing it, and Jared stroked over the fabric in awe. It’s not like he was generally opposed to dressing up, he just couldn’t afford anything like it. Neither did he have any opportunity to _wear_ it. At least until now.

He wasn’t sure if he should call Sandy back in or just change back, but with all that he knew of her by now, she’d want to see it. So he hid behind the door before opening it, only peaking out his head. “Sandy? Do you wanna check?”

“Of course, silly!” She surprised him by how close she was. She must have literally been waiting right outside the door. Sandy slid through the door and smirked. “Don’t want anyone else to see you though, eh?”

To her credit, she didn’t try to open the door any further and closed it right behind her again. In response, Jared just shrugged awkwardly.

“Geeze. You’re just as bad as Jensen.” She rolled her eyes and looked him up and down. “And it’s such a damn shame. You should be on the cover of GQ or better yet, printed on a large billboard, so every woman can enjoy this.”

Jared blushed and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I don’t think so.” He shuffled his feet and fiddled with the bowtie. Which was still hanging off his neck untied. “How’d you know my size anyways?”

“Oh, I called your mom.”

“What?” Jared paled. “You did not!”

Sandy laughed. “No, I didn’t. I’m just the best at my job. You should know that by now.” She twirled her finger, apparently wanting Jared to follow. But yeah. No. Instead Sandy rounded _him_ , which might have been even worse.

Jared really didn’t like being on display like this. It was different from being in costume. He just felt extremely out of his depth in clothes this expensive. And he might not know much about it, but this tux did not come off the rack at your random store.

“I checked your jacket size when you were in his office,” Sandy admitted. “The rest I guessed.” She fiddled with his pants and Jared turned, needing to face her to not _die_ of embarrassment. “And apparently I outdid myself.”

“Tell me again why I need to wear this, though?” He fiddled with the tie again, until Sandy stepped in, tying it for him.

“Because you represent Ackles, Inc, and thus you have to dazzle.” She chuckled. “Seriously, Jared, you can’t even tie a bow-tie? What did you wear to prom? A clip-on?”

”I didn’t go to prom.” Jared made a face, then tugged at the tie as soon as Sandy was done. “Damn, that’s tight.”

“You didn’t? Oh.” Sandy cocked her head, probably considering if she should ask for his story. She didn’t. “Alright, come by my place first and I’ll help you get ready.” She expertly undid the tie again and Jared marveled at her nimble fingers. Until said fingers ruffled his hair. “We need to do something about _that_ , too.”

“Hey!” Jared slapped her hand away, only slightly offended. He knew she didn’t mean anything by it. That’s why he was glad to be in here with Sandy, and not with Jensen, who would have made this a hell of a lot more awkward.

“I’ll tell Jensen to pick us up there,” she chirped and went to scribble down directions to her apartment. Jared accepted them gratefully and as soon as she was gone, changed back to his normal clothes. And then spend the rest of the day waiting to be called into Jensen’s office, so he could complain about getting ambushed with this. But then, what did he expect? This was _Jensen_. He was probably sitting in his office having a good laugh about it.

He never called, and eventually Jared was so busy, he forgot to check for him. And before he knew it, Jared found himself at Sandy’s, all styled up and ready to dazzle.

They met Jensen in front of a limo outside. Jared raised his eyebrow, ready to tease Jensen about his car park, but the cold look in his eyes stopped him. “Sir,” he said instead.

“Padalecki,” Jensen greeted with a nod. Then his eyes warmed as he assessed Sandy. “Sandy. You’re looking marvelous as always.”

Sandy blushed and waved her hand. “Charmer.”

Jared frowned and looked back at Sandy, who, admittedly, did look stunning in her dark red robe, hair pinned up and make-up flawless. Maybe he should have said something, too? Fuck, now it was too late!

Then Jensen completely baffled him by taking Sandy’s hand and kissing it. “Just stating the obvious.”

Sandy giggled. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Jensen.”

Jensen rolled his eyes, smiling sheepishly and then opened the car door, still holding Sandy’s hand as he helped her in. Jared could just watch in amazement. And, admittedly, with utter jealousy. Did he miss something?

Jensen climbed in next to her and that left Jared, standing at the curb and feeling like a moron. How did Jensen always do that to him?

“You coming, Padalecki?”

As if on cue, Jared sighed and climbed in, sitting down across from them and shutting the door. As Jensen leaned over to knock at the dark tinted window to the driver’s cabin, Jared got a good whiff of his aftershave and felt tingles right down to his toes. Hot damn!

Jared stared at him, in his perfectly pressed tuxedo, still wearing his glasses and the ‘boring’, non-Winchester hair, and it was just the sexiest look Jared’s seen on him, ever. Maybe he should worry that seeing Jensen in formal wear beat Winchester’s, his _idol’s_ , leather gear, but somehow his brain refused to function.

“Padalecki.” Jensen snapped his fingers and Jared’s eyes snapped back into focus. “I hope you’ve come prepared.”

Jared paled. Ah, fuck! He should have taken his ‘assignment’ more seriously then after all, huh? “Uh, sure.”

“So you’ll know what to do if the laptop fails me while I hold my speech? You’ve familiarized yourself with their type of data projector? You’ve brought your tools?”

Tools? Jared frowned. Why would he need…

“You’re scaring him, Jensen.” Sandy placed her hand on Jensen’s knee and Jared ground his teeth. “Don’t worry, Jared.” She smiled at him, but somehow Jared couldn’t bring himself to smile back. “Nothing’s ever gone wrong before. And if their beamer fails, I am sure they’ll have their own technician to take care of it.”

“Tell me again why I’m bringing _him_ , then?” Jensen was talking as if he wasn’t even in the car! Jared fumed.

“Because you get a second ticket for tech support?” Sandy suggested. “And because you’re a nice boss who likes to share with his employees.” Sandy squeezed his knee, then let go. “He’s just toying with you, Jared.”

Jared grunted in response. “Don’t worry. I only need _these_ to fix your laptop.” He wiggled his fingers. “I can’t account for fixing your speech though. That one’s on you.”

Sandy gasped, but Jared was only watching Jensen, whose lips twitched until he couldn’t hide his smirk. “You’re a funny one, Padalecki. Don’t make me regret bringing you.”

Jared smirked back, then leaned back in his seat, finally relaxing. Whatever happened tonight, Jensen wanted him there for a reason. And he doubted it was just for tech support. He should just hang on to that.

 

 

_Chapter Eight – Open Your Eyes_

Everything went well during Jensen’s speech. Thank fuck! Because even though Jared had tried really, really hard to listen to it and pay attention, all he could do was marvel at how natural Jensen looked on stage, how the light brought out his freckles, how cute he was when he was fiddling with his glasses. And how jealous he was of Sandy, who was staring at Jensen with the same adoring look Jared must have sported.

And for most of the evening, Sandy was hanging off Jensen’s arm as they worked their way through the crowd, small-talking and smiling, possibly collecting cheques or whatever. And Jared was quietly seething in the background, stuffing himself with food and getting kinda drunk. Sandy had been right there, it was all delicious.

He didn’t know why he was _here_ though. Did Jensen just want to show him that he and Sandy were the perfect couple? Did he want to embarrass him in this tux? Did he think Jared needed the free food to get a decent meal because he was so poor, he considered him a charity case now?

Jared was having yet another champagne when suddenly Jensen was beside him, leaning close. Jared flinched. He hadn’t even noticed him approaching. Fuck!

“Having fun there, Padalecki?”

“Time of my life, sir.” Jared saluted and finished his glass, before grabbing yet another off a passing tray.

Jensen snorted. “You know, I brought you here to judge your social skills and see how you blend in. I have to say, you failed pretty hard.”

Jared blinked. “You… you what?”

“How do you think I get my information?” Jensen asked him. “Sure, I browse the web, but I learn a lot at these events, too.” He pointed towards a man in the centre of the room. “You see that guy? Know who he is?”

Jared squinted. He recognized him from a photo he saw the other night. He was on Jensen’s list! “The, uh… the chief of police?”

Jensen nodded. “That’s right. And when he gets a little tipsy, he gets talkative. Especially when he wants to impress a pretty girl such as Sandy. He tells her all about the break-ins and gang activities, hoping to scare her enough that she’ll leave the party with him to protect her on her way home.”

“But isn’t he… married?” Jared frowned.

Jensen gave him a look. “Geeze, Padalecki. Sometimes I really wonder what fairytale world you stepped out of.”

Jared tried to glare, but Jensen was so close. _So close!_ And he still smelled so nice. And Jared was admittedly pretty damn drunk, so he just leaned in, taking a deep breath and sighing happily.

“Dude.” Jensen took a step back. “How much did you have to drink tonight?”

In response, Jared emptied his fresh glass, then shrugged. “A little.”

“God damn!” Jensen closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Lesson number one, kid, always protect your most valuable weapon.”

Frowning hard, Jared reached for his belt, only to find out he wasn’t wearing one. Right. “But… I didn’t bring my gun.”

Jensen muttered something unintelligible. “Think.” He tapped Jared’s brain. “I’m talking about the one thing you destroy when you drink as much as you have.”

“My liver?” Jared tried and to his utter amazement, Jensen laughed out loud.

“Your brain, you moron.” Jensen passed his hand through his hair. “Although, yeah, for Sammy Colt his most valuable weapon is probably his liver.”

“Hey!” Jared pointed his finger at him, then lost his focus a little and ended up stabbing Jensen in the chest. “Are you insin… insin…” His tongue wouldn’t quite roll so well. He swallowed. “You saying I’m dumb?”

“You are right now, yes.” Jensen took his finger and patted his hand. Jared snatched it back.

“But you were drinking, too! I saw you!” Because he has been watching him all night.

“You think?” Jensen raised his eyebrow. “Watch and learn, newbie.” A waiter passed them and Jensen took a glass of champagne, slapping Jared’s hand as he was reaching for another one as well.

“Hey!” He protested, but was silenced by Jensen’s glare. Then Jensen smiled cheerfully, clinked glasses with Jared’s empty one, took one tiny sip, and put his still filled glass right back on the tray of the next passing waiter.

“There. The trick is just to reach for a new glass whenever you switch tables. They’ll think you’ve just emptied your last and are just as tipsy as they are.” Jensen took Jared’s empty glass out of his hands and discarded of it. Which was probably better, because Jared felt himself getting tired, and that glass had gotten heavy.

“But why?” Jared looked at him. What was the fun of drinking, when you didn’t actually _drink_? And then, why pretend?

“Because people get suspicious when you go to one of these events and you won’t drink. And then they won’t talk and tell you all about their valuables in bank vaults, or new, expensive artifacts at exhibitions, or just gossip about which street they saw someone getting mugged in without helping them, of course. After all, their new coat might have gotten stained.” Jensen’s eyes narrowed.

Jared blinked again, getting lost watching Jensen’s lips move. “Pretty!”

“But why am I even still talking to you.” Jensen rolled his eyes. “Alright, let’s get you home.”

Jared nodded, yeah, whatever. Then suddenly he remembered! “Hey, wait! Wasn’t lesson one to always know where the next First Aid Kit was?” There! He wasn’t so dumb now, was he? He beamed.

Jensen smiled amused. “Okay, so where is it?”

Jared’s face fell. “Uh…” He pointed behind himself, at a vain attempt to pretend that he knew. “Back there, in that, err, back room.”

“Nice try.” Jensen chuckled. “Unfortunately that’s the electronics equipment room. Your next First Aid Kit would be this way.” He pointed in the opposite direction and Jared cocked his head, unsure if Jensen was pretending to know it just as well, or if he _really_ knew.

He considered putting it to the test, but then decided against it. Walking all the way through the room to sneak into another did not sound like all that much fun right now. And he was starting to feel sick from the food. “Let’s just go.”

Jensen smirked. “You okay to walk on your own?”

Jared nodded. “’Course I am!” He pushed away from the table and took a few steps. Then suddenly everything was spinning, and before he knew it, Jensen had wrapped his arm around him.

“Apparently not,” Jensen commented, scanning the crowd.

Just then, the front door opened and the audience fell abruptly silent when an older, yet still handsome man entered. It only lasted a few seconds, then they all exploded into a flurry of gasps and whispers. Jensen and Jared both gasped as well when they saw who it was. Jeffrey Morgan, Jensen’s uncle. The man who raised him. Jared looked at Jensen.

”What the fuck?” Jensen’s face hardened and his grip around Jared tightened. “What is he doing here?”

Sandy joined them, taking one good look at them and then hooking her arm around Jared’s other side. “I’m so sorry, Jensen. I had no idea he was coming.”

Jensen ground his teeth. “Don’t worry. This isn’t your mistake. I’m sure he showed up uninvited.”

The three of them watched him make the rounds with a big grin, shaking hands and just generally making a big show of being friends with everyone. And from the looks of it, he _was_.

“That’s disgusting.” Sandy sneered. “Look at them making nice with this criminal.” She bit her lip. “No offense though, Jensen! I know he’s your uncle.”

“Please.” Jensen shook his head. “None taken at all. If it was up to me, he’d be rotting in jail.” He lowered his voice to barely audible and Jared could only hear the next because he was leaning into him. “Or worse.”

And just when Jared wondered what that might mean, Jeffrey Morgan seemed to have spotted them, because he waved over, then fished a cigar out of his pocket, biting off the end and spitting it on the ground before lighting it up. All still with this big, disarming grin on his face and looking straight at them. And in a way, Jared could see why the rest of the crowd seemed so taken with him, and how they just let him do this, smoke in here, _spit_ on the _ground_. He was nothing if not charismatic.

None of them waved back though.

“Time to go.” Jensen announced and with the help of both him and Sandy, Jared made it out of the room without falling down. Before they left, he turned his head once more to find Jeffrey Morgan still looking at them. When he spotted Jared, he winked and saluted. Jared frowned. What the hell did _that_ mean?

But he had no time to ponder about it, because they were out in the cold air and suddenly the spinning intensified a thousand fold.

“Whoa there!” Jensen caught him before he could fall down and Jared might have taken advantage of it to feel him up a bit. Might not. His brain was pretty fuzzy by now and he wasn’t so sure if he just fantasized about squeezing his ass, or if he actually did.

Jensen’s body might have tensed up, or might not have.

“You think we can leave him at his place, all alone?” Sandy’s voice.

“Wanna go wit’ you!” Jared slurred into Jensen’s ear. Then he was manhandled into the car.

“He could sleep on my couch.” Sandy again.

A snort from Jensen. “Really? You think you’re able to handle all seven feet of him? You couldn’t even get him up on your couch.”

Sandy sighed. “So you’re taking him then?”

“Jensen!” Jared whined, trying to grab for him, but he was in the car and the others were not and there was no way he was moving. Hey, here was an idea! Why didn’t they just let him sleep in this car? He sprawled out more comfortably, drowning out the voices on the other side of the car.

Until Jensen’s got louder. “Alright, fine! He can have my guest room.”

Jared forced his eyes open again. He was gonna sleep with Jensen? That sounded… ah, fuckity-fuck! He shouldn’t have been drinking so much! Now he couldn’t _sleep with_ Jensen. Or could he? He glanced down his body, not even able to move his legs. Well, fuck, fuck, fuck!

The others squeezed in opposite him and Jared fell forward, trying to reach Jensen but slightly failing. “Jensen!”

“Crap, Padalecki.” Jensen pushed him back upright. “There’s no puking in the car, you hear me?”

“Whut?” Jared blinked at him, reaching out to touch Jensen’s lips.

“No puking.” Jensen batted his hand away. “That’s an order!”

Jared reflexively stiffened. “M’okay, sir!” And then he sprawled back again, closing his eyes, drifting off.

“Why did he drink so much, anyways?” Sandy.

“I have no idea.” Jensen. “Because he’s a moron?” Definitely Jensen.

Jared tried to protest, but a fresh wave of nausea hit him and the next thing he knew, Jensen was shaking him.

“Come on, get up. We’re here.”

“Here where?” Jared blinked. And damn, that hurt!

“Here at… my lair,” Jensen replied and Jared shook himself a little more awake.

“Lair?” He took Jensen’s hands and let himself be dragged out of the car. “Awesome.”

“Yeah…” Jensen coaxed him. “And if you make it inside without us tumbling over, I’ll take you with me on patrol tomorrow night.”

Jared forced himself as awake as he could and concentrated really, really hard on his steps. Left, right, left, right. Leaning against the wall as Jensen opened his door. Then it was back to left, right, left, right.

“Now I know why my architect said it was better to have the guest room on the ground floor,” Jensen muttered as Jared was led somewhere.

Another door, but instead of leaning against the wall, Jared leaned into Jensen this time. “Jensen…” He looked up, meeting Jensen’s gaze, his green eyes sparkling in the dim light. His glasses were gone and Jared wondered why. But yeah. Made this easier.

Without thinking too much about it, Jared leaned forward, crushing his mouth to Jensen’s. And Jensen might or might not have kissed back before he was pushed off and through the door, his legs crashing into something and he toppled over, flailing helplessly until he landed on his back.

Thankfully it was the bed. “Whew!” Jared reached out for Jensen, making grabby hands. “Com’ere!”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Jensen clucked his tongue. “Wait here.”

“Don’t go!” Jared pouted, but Jensen just rolled his eyes and left the room. Jared whined low in his throat, really missing him. And that damn bow tie was seriously bothering him now. He reached out to take it off, but it wouldn’t come and he kept tugging until suddenly it was even tighter and he tugged more franticly and it just got tighter and suddenly he really panicked.

Then Jensen was back, Jensen’s fingers over his, and the tie was gone. “Jesus Christ. I don’t think I have to worry about you getting hurt at a job. You’re doing a fine job killing yourself all on your own.”

Jared was eternally grateful and wanted to tell Jensen that he wouldn’t get hurt because now he got Jensen to look out for him, but all he could do was interlace his fingers with Jensen’s and smile up at him before his eyes fell closed.

“On second though, you’ll be the death of _me_.” Jensen slapped Jared’s cheeks until he opened his eyes again. “Here, take these before you pass out. You can thank me tomorrow.”

Jensen was offering him pills and Jared blinked, trying to focus his gaze, failing. Whatever. He opened his mouth and after a long pause and a heavy sigh, Jensen put them on Jared’s tongue, then held a glass of water to his lips and Jared managed to take a few sips.

“Frigging kid.” Jensen sighed again. “Alright, I’ll put the glass up here…” He pointed to the nightstand. “Whenever you wake up, you’ll drink, okay?” He waited until Jared nodded. “And here’s a wastebasket, in case you need it.” Jensen held it up, then put it back on the floor. Jared blinked. “If you need it, _use it._ ” Jensen leaned closer and Jared tried to lean up, but his body would just not comply. “I’m serious.”

“Jens…” Jared’s eyes fluttered shut once again. “Sleep….” His head lolled back, then snapped back forward. “With me?” He finished, but when he blinked, he realized Jensen was already gone and the room was pitch black. And somehow he felt better. Weird. How did so much happen in a second?

He remembered the water and reached over, taking a gulp. Then he fell back down, closing his eyes out of his own will for once and then he quickly faded back to black.

 

 

_Chapter Nine – Little Of Your Time_

The next day, Jared woke up with a groan. There was a general ache throughout his entire body and his stomach turned before it growled. And god damn, did he have to pee! He slowly rolled out of bed, then realized that it wasn’t _his_ bed, and last night slowly came back to him.

He groaned again and clutched his head. But time to worry later. He needed a bathroom first of all.

His feet hit the cold ground and he frowned, not remembering taking off any part of his clothes. Yet still his jacket was hanging off a chair and his shoes and socks were placed neatly next to it. Jared was pretty sure that he couldn’t have done that himself – and he intensely regretted not remembering Jensen undressing him.

There was a note taped to the door on his left, so he slowly got up and padded towards it. It read ‘bathroom’ and he let out a relieved sigh, entering right away and going straight to the bathroom. There were clothes lying on top of it and he pushed them out of the way while opening the lid simultaneously.

Afterwards, he felt better and glanced back down at the clothes. Sweatpants and a shirt. Jensen must have laid them out for him. He opened the cabinet and found a fresh tube of toothpaste and a still wrapped toothbrush. Okay… either Jensen had houseguests quite frequently, or he was just prepared for anything. Jared wasn’t sure which he preferred.

No wait, he did.

Shrugging, he broke out the toothbrush and cleaned himself up best he could. He was tempted to take a shower – there were fresh towels and hotel sized bottles of shampoo and shower gel, which frankly, was just a little bit disturbing – but he didn’t want to overstretch his welcome.

He did, however, change into the clothes, relishing in the fact that they came without underwear. Maybe Jensen would make him _pay_ for his night here. And on second thoughts, Jared probably should have showered after all.

When he padded outside to seek out the kitchen, he was led there by the strong smell of coffee emanating from it, and greeted by Jensen in sweats and a plain white tee, leaning against the counter and cupping his mug with both hands, inhaling the steam.

He wasn’t wearing his glasses and his hair was completely unkempt, neither Jensen-office-hair, nor the spiked up Winchester-do. Jensen just looked so young and innocent. Like a random guy, not like his boss or his idol. Jared melted on the spot.

“Morning,” he greeted.

Jensen blinked at him. “Risen from the dead?” He reached next to him and put on his glasses, then looked Jared up and down. “You could have taken a shower.”

Jared blushed and scratched his arm. “Wasn’t sure.” He tugged on his slightly too tight faded-gray shirt and wondered if it was Jensen’s. And if he should offer it back. “What’s with the tiny bottles? You snatched them from hotels?” He asked instead.

“Maid bought them.” Jensen shrugged. “Never thought I’d need them though.” He poured a mug for Jared and Jared walked over to accept it gratefully.

“So I take it you don’t have random guys sleep over a lot?” Jared couldn’t help asking.

“Nope.” Jensen’s face was nondescript.

“So, uh, girls?”

Jensen raised his eyebrows, then. “You asking me if I get laid? Seriously?”

Jared bit his lip, shrugging. It was important information! But apparently Jensen didn’t like to share. “Just… uh, making small talk, is all.” He took a sip of his coffee.

Jensen snorted and rolled his eyes. “Should have done that last night.”

“Yeah…” Jared grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” He passed a hand through his hair. “Didn’t know it was a test.” He really should have said something!

“Jared… You want to be a vigilante, you always have to be alert.” Jensen put his mug down. “ _Always._ ”

“But if you’d said…” Jared knew he should shut up and take the lecture, but it was just not in his nature.

“You can’t depend on me all the time. I’m not gonna be around to baby-sit you every step of the way.” Jensen pushed away from the counter and went to the fridge, turning his back to Jared. “When I think your training is over, you’re on your own. You realize that, right?”

Jared swallowed hard. No. By the time training was over, he’d be so used to Jared, that he wouldn’t _want_ to be alone anymore. Or maybe… maybe at least they could team up from time to time. Why would Jensen even want to go out and risk his life alone when he could have Jared to have his back?

“Jared?” Jensen turned and Jared realized he hadn’t answered.

“I… I know.” Because any other answer might result in Jensen taking back his offer and throwing him out right now.

Jensen nodded, obviously satisfied. “Eggs for breakfast? You’ll need protein, I have quite the workout planned for you today.” He turned again, but not before Jared could spot the evil grin on his face.

Jared groaned silently. “Sure.” Then again… hey, this meant he’d spend all day at Jensen’s? Training with Winchester? His day was looking up. And hopefully after breakfast he’d feel just a little less sick.

He didn’t really, though, and when Jensen first made him lift weights and bench press for an hour before he spent another hour swimming laps in the pool, Jared just knew this was torture and plain payback for the night before. Even though Jared didn’t puke in his car, or in the bed, or _at all_ , because thankfully his stomach was made of steel.

Sadly the rest of his body wasn’t. When he climbed out of the water, he was shaking with exhaustion and could only glare at Jensen, who was smirking at him.

“Alright.” He nodded. “At least this one you’ve passed. You proved that you can still push yourself, even under extreme circumstances.”

Jared was startled. Really? A compliment? He smiled. “So I’m not such a failure after all, eh? I will make a good hero?”

“Don’t push your luck.” But Jensen was still smiling as he threw a towel at him. “Take a shower, then we’ll have lunch.”

“Sweet.” Jared toweled his hair, then wrapped the towel around his waist and went upstairs to take a shower. His legs were still weak, but he felt a little better afterwards. When he got out of the bathroom, Jensen had left him a new shirt, but still the same sweatpants, so apparently the torture was not quite over yet.

But he was all willing to prove to Jensen that he was far from done – even if he _felt_ pretty much dead – and he’d do anything to get more approval out of him. He still had to make up for last night. At the next party he’d mingle and blend and squeeze as much information out of anyone he talked to!

That was, if Jensen would ever take him again. But he would, right? He had to, if it was part of his training and all. He couldn’t just give up on him after one failed trial run, could he? Nah. Jared shook his head, deciding to stop worrying. Besides, it was lunch time now and if last night was anything to go by, rich people knew of delicious food.

Although when he got into the kitchen, Jensen was sitting there with two pizza boxes. Jared rubbed his eyes. “You ordered pizza?”

“Well, yeah.” Jensen frowned. “Why? Don’t tell me you don’t eat pizza.”

“Uhm, no…” Jared bit his lip. Now how could he possibly phrase it? “I just, uh… didn’t think they’d even deliver to your street.”

”Why? What’s wrong with my…” Jensen stopped. “Oh right, I get it! Rich people don’t order pizza. Rich people have chefs to cook for them. Rich people eat caviar with tablespoons every night.”

Jared didn’t say anything, just sat down at the table opposite Jensen. Because… uhm… yeah? How the fuck would he know?

“Seriously, your people skills are for shit.” Jensen shook his head.

“That’s not true! I get along great with everybody, usually.” Jared huffed. He did!

“Yeah? Name three friends you have at work.” Jensen raised his eyebrow.

“Sandy.” Jared started, then frowned. “Uhm, Dave and… and Tony.”

“Tony and Dave?” Jensen smirked. “Do you even know their last names?”

No, he didn’t. Because he never really talked to those morons. “I don’t need to know their last names. I don’t have to address them with ‘sir’ and ‘mister’ like my boss.” Jared glared.

“Right.” Jensen nodded, but he was way too gleeful, obviously not buying it.

Jared seethed. Just because he didn’t have all too many friends, didn’t mean he couldn’t get them, if he wanted to. He used to be popular. He had so many friends at high school. But then, after his father got sick and he had to work, and all his friends went to college and he didn’t… maybe he got a little bitter. But still. “You don’t have any friends, either.”

“You don’t know that.” Jensen opened a box, casually taking a slice. “Because you don’t know me.”

“Well, do you?” Jared grabbed a slice as well. Pepperoni and pineapple. Yum!

Jensen sighed. “No, but that’s my choice.”

“Ah, just as it is my choice not to have any either.” Jared licked some sauce off his fingers, startled when Jensen seemed to flush.

“But I’m not pretending to…” Jensen waved his hand. “You know what? Just forget it. This is pointless. Let’s just talk about your schedule for the rest of the day.”

Jared nodded. Yeah, that sounded like a better plan. “You’re taking me with you tonight, right?”

“No, I’m not.” Jensen gave him a look.

“But you promised! You promised last night!” And they made it inside safely.

“Remember that, eh?” Jensen chuckled. “Damn.”

Jared smiled. “I remember everything.” Although, okay, no. Some scenes were all fuzzy and mixed up with hallucinations. Like kissing Jensen. He certainly didn’t do that. No way.

Although, with the way Jensen was suddenly squirming, maybe he did? There was also still the question of just who took off his shoes and jacket and when did Jensen bring him fresh clothes?

“Alright then,” Jensen sighed. “Still not taking you though, sorry.”

“What? But you promised!” Jared threw his piece of pizza back into the box angrily.

“I know…” Jensen bit his lip. “And I’m sorry, Jared. Really. I shouldn’t have promised. It’s just… where I go tonight… it’s too dangerous for you. You still don’t have your bulletproof clothing.”

“Bullshit.” Jared huffed. “You’re never gonna take me, are you?”

“No, Jared!” Jensen held up his hands, trying to calm him down. “I will, I promise.” Jensen bit his lip again. “Honest promise this time. Just… just not tonight. I can’t.”

“Why?” Jared didn’t understand. What was so special about tonight? He narrowed his eyes. Jensen knew about a heist, didn’t he? “What do you know?”

“I know I have to do this alone.” Jensen’s face hardened. “And that’s that. No discussion.”

“Fine.” Whatever Jensen said. What did it matter if he _took_ him? Jared did all fine following him by himself before. No difference now.

“So, when you’re done I was thinking target practice and then I’ll show you some self-defense moves?” Jensen offered.

Jared shrugged. Whatever. “Fine.” His voice had softened though. Because that actually didn’t sound half bad.

And the shooting lesson was pretty fun. Jared had improved a lot and Jensen noticed as well. And told him as much! Although maybe he still just felt bad for the botched promise. Then again, this was _Jensen Ackles_. It would be the first time he’d felt bad about turning Jared down.

Self-defense mostly consisted of Jensen throwing or kicking Jared down hard, and he spent more time lying flat and defeated on the gym mat than standing on it. And sadly it was all ‘professional’. No fun gym mat sharing with Jensen. At all.

Jared sighed after he landed flat on his back for the, what was it now? Twentieth time? Not counting him falling flat on his _face_. He looked up at Jensen, not even really breaking a sweat, smirking down at him triumphantly. And he had to admit that apparently you couldn’t really learn anything by watching kung fu DVDs and relying on your height advantage.

He sat, but didn’t _stand_ up yet. “Where did you learn this?” He asked Jensen. “I mean, it’s not any style I recognize. Your movements are way too lithe for any fighter I’ve seen. It’s almost like you’re dancing, sometimes.” And he didn’t mean just now, since Jensen didn’t get to show off all too much, because Jared was defeated way too easily. But Jared thought back of all the times he’d watched him from afar. He needed to know, because he had to go there, as well!

Jensen’s face fell and he passed his hands through his hair. “You really wanna know?”

“Yes.” Jared frowned. What was his big secret? Trained by a secret monk society in the Himalayans?

“I kinda…” Jensen looked away, biting his lip, considering, before he sat down next to Jared. “I kinda owe it to my uncle.”

Jared’s eyebrows flew up. “Your uncle trained you?” If he expected anything, that was not it.

Jensen laughed, but it sounded anything but happy. “Fuck no.” He shook his head, looking away again. “My uncle… he had a twisted sense of humor. So when I told him I wanted to take karate, he made me join a ballet group as well, or else he wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“Ballet? But that makes no sense.” Jared stretched his legs, because, damn, sitting hurt. Also… _ballet_?

“For him, it did.” Jensen shrugged, not elaborating any further. “Anyways, it was actually a good thing. Helped my sense of coordination and all. Made me a better fighter.” He grinned. “Sometimes I wish I could tell him so he’d choke on it.”

Jared tentatively smiled back. He didn’t know what to say. Because he had no idea what to make of Jensen’s uncle, the criminal. The criminal who raised the masked hero. Who told a young boy to take ballet when he wanted to learn karate. And Jeffrey Morgan really didn’t seem like a supporter of the fine arts.

And Jensen never talked fondly of him. He was still looking pretty stricken now, so Jared tried to lighten the mood again. “So, can you still do a pliet? And those, uh, twirls?”

Jensen glared at him. “Shut up.”

”No seriously. I wanna see it. Will you put on your tutu for me, Jensen?” Jared nudged him, smirking to show him that it was all in good fun, no mean teasing. Because now that he thought about it, maybe that was why Morgan made him take the classes. To crush his possible new self-esteem spouting from karate. Then again, how sick do you have to be? He was Jensen’s _uncle_. He was raising him!

“Fuck you.” Jensen pushed back, a lot harder than Jared expected, and he ended up falling over.

“Ow!” Jared whined, not even bothering to roll back up in a sitting position.

“You done for today?” Jensen’s voice held an edge of glee. That bastard.

Jared winced. He wanted to say no, really, really did, but… “I think so, yeah.”

“Alright.” Jensen slapped his leg. Hard. Jared winced again. “I assume you wanna take another shower before you leave?”

Staying right here and passing out wasn’t really an option, was it? Jared sighed and nodded. And then, to his surprise, Jensen helped him up.

“You did well today, Jared.” Jensen clapped him on the back. “A lot better than I expected, after last night.”

Jared blinked, not knowing what to make of this. Yet another compliment? Wow! “Thanks.” His chest flooded with warmth and he smiled silently to himself, not wanting to show how much it really meant to him and risk Jensen getting snarky again.

All in all, today had been a damn good day. And it wasn’t over yet.

 

 

_Chapter Ten – I Can’t Decide_

As soon as Jared was home, he pumped himself up on energy drinks and power bars, so he’d be able to follow Jensen - Winchester - later. It wasn’t just that he was stubborn, because the urge to stay in and fall into bed was strong, but he just had a bad feeling about this. Like Jensen was purposefully putting himself into danger.

 _More_ than usual.

So Jared put on his mask and costume and was out the door looking for him. He was in luck, too, because not even thirty minutes later he spotted suspicious activity in one of the warehouses owned by Ackles, Inc. It was supposed to be closed and empty by night, yet he could see light flickering through the windows.

Jared inched closer, crouching down underneath one of them and waiting, because he could hear faint voices. He concentrated, drowning out all other outside noises, until he could listen in.

Bingo!

One of them was definitely Jensen, the other, he couldn’t discern.

“…wanna know why you’re framing me.” Jensen was saying.

“You make an easy target.” The other voice replied. “Besides, the irony is just too good.”

Silence. Then, “What do you mean?”

“Oh please, Jenny. I know it’s you. So you can take off that ridiculous mask of yours and face me like a man.”

Outside, Jared gulped. This couldn’t be good.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jensen replied, voice cold.

“Jenny, Jenny, Jenny,” the second voice was mocking. “How stupid do you think I am? I know you, know how you think, know what you’re capable of.”

”You have no idea what I am capable of.” Jensen replied and Jared flinched. He sounded menacing.

The other man just laughed though. “Besides, we have the same suppliers. Imagine my surprise when one of them told me about my super paranoid nephew needing custom-fit bullet-proof clothing.”

 _Nephew?_ Ah fuck! Jared knew who the second person was. Jeffrey Morgan. The man with the cigar. … _The cigar!_ That’s how Jensen knew! Dammit! He should have told him. Jared could have helped, with whatever this was.

“And it was all clear when Marco told me about you purchasing a rifle.” Morgan sorted. “I might have bought you’ve grown paranoid, but you would never buy a gun. Not after what happened to your parents.” There was another pause. “Unless, of course, you needed it to _do good_.” And the last sounded so dirty, so _wrong_.

“What do you _want_?” Jensen’s voice had changed. Now he just sounded tired and sad, similar to the day after he found out Jared knew.

“Oh, Jenny-boy, what do I want?” Morgan’s voice was still mocking. “That’s the big question, isn’t it?”

“Just tell me so we can get this over with.” Jensen’s voice was closer to the window now and Jared crouched down lower, really not wanting to be caught right now.

“Still the old spoil-sport, eh? No fun for you.” Morgan tsked. “But that’s alright. More fun for me.” He laughed again. It was a deep, rumbling sound, but held no real humor in it. “But what do I want? I wasn’t so sure at first. Unmask you, give you up to the authorities?” Jared gasped and quickly clamped his mouth shut. Damn!

“But then I thought, what’s in it for me?” Morgan continued. “Besides the fun of it, that was.” Jared could practically see the grin on his face. What an ass! “So then I came up with a bigger plan. A better plan.” Morgan paused, probably for dramatic effect. “I’ll sabotage your company, wait till your shares drop to the floor because everyone thinks Winchester has a grudge against you and will keep fucking with your property, so then I buy in big. And once I’m majority shareholder, I’ll kick you out and then, when you’ve lost your company, _then_ I will unmask you.”

Jensen didn’t say anything and Jared shivered. This man was Jensen’s _uncle_? His only remaining family? He felt incredibly bad for Jensen.

“But there’s one big flaw with my plan, isn’t there, Jenny?”

“What’s that, Jeff?” And Jared bet Jensen already knew.

“You hold sixty-five percent of your own shares. And you will never sell them, no matter how low they drop, will you?” Morgan almost sounded disappointed.

“I most certainly won’t.” Jensen sounded smug. Good for him. “So now you can stop and focus your criminal energy elsewhere.”

“You’d like that, now, wouldn’t you, Jenny?” Jared bit his lip. This didn’t sound good. “But don’t worry, I’ve already set my goals elsewhere.”

“Good,” Jensen sounded relieved. Jared was still worried though and he had a feeling Jensen should be, too.

“Yeah? I think so, too.” Morgan was grinning again. By now Jared could tell. “Do you wanna hear my new plan, Jenny?”

 _’Say no!’_ Jared silently begged. _’Just say no and leave.’_

“Tell me.”

“I came up with it just yesterday, you must know. And it’s quite genius, if you ask me.” Morgan moved something inside the room, Jared couldn’t tell what. “It involves your little friends.”

“Don’t you dare!” Jensen seethed.

“Ah, Jenny, but I _would_.” He chuckled. “It goes like this. You sign over all your shares to me, and I let them live.”

“No.” Jensen’s voice had hardened again. “Go ahead. They don’t mean anything to me.”

Jared looked around, searching for something he could climb up on. He had to get closer and look inside. He had to know who they were talking about.

“No?” Morgan asked. “You’re telling me you won’t care if I end little Miss McCoy here, maybe have a little fun with her myself, first?”

Jared winced. Fuck! Sandy!

“And then I’ll move on to your new boytoy. You don’t care about him, either?” Morgan continued and Jared frowned. _Boytoy?_ Who the hell were they talking about? “I saw the way you look at him, Jenny. I know you’re bluffing.”

“No, I’m…” Jensen sounded stricken. Even Jared, who couldn’t even _see_ him right now, knew he was lying. “I’m not. They don’t mean anything to me.”

“Oh, really?” There was movement again and Jared had to strain to hear the rest, because Morgan’s voice had dropped. “I’ll make a video then, and send it to you. Maybe include some body parts as well.”

There was a strangled sound, pained and angry, mixed with a wild roar until suddenly there was a loud crash. “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you!” Jensen was screaming and Jared couldn’t stop himself anymore. He quickly stacked the boxes near him and climbed up, being able to peer through the window in time to see Jensen beating up his uncle, who was lying in a heap on the floor.

The strangest thing was, Morgan was laughing. “No, you won’t.” Morgan kicked out his legs, causing Jensen to tumble backwards. In no time at all, Morgan was back on his feet again. “You can’t kill me, Jenny-boy. You know that.”

”Give me one good reason.” Jensen was in fighting stance, fists raised, circling him.

“Because I raised you. Because I’m the only family you have left.” Morgan grinned again, and now that Jared could actually _see_ it, it was even dirtier than he’d pictured it. “Because you, unlike me, are not a killer.”

”Watch me.” Jensen reached for his Winchester and Jared gulped.

Oh no! This was bad. This was really, really bad. Jensen wouldn’t. Would he? Maybe he _should_? Jared thought of Morgan’s criminal record, all the dropped charges, thought of Sandy, thought of that man hurting her, and he knew. Jensen _would_.

“You’ve already framed me for murder, what’s one more on my slate?” Jensen cocked his gun and Jared could watch the grin slowly fade from Morgan’s face.

“Now listen, Jenny…”

“My name’s Jensen.” Jensen took aim, his finger on the trigger, and Jared paled. He was gonna be sick.

He couldn’t… Jared just couldn’t let him do this. He knew Jensen would regret it for the rest of his life, even if Morgan might deserve it. Jensen was not the one supposed to execute it. “Jensen, don’t!” Jared yelled and both men’s heads whipped around to stare at him.

“Jared? What the fuck?” And while Jensen was startled for a second, Morgan had enough time to jump behind his desk and reach for … fuck! And reach for the gun he’d hidden there.

“Jensen, watch out! He has a gun!” He banged against the window frantically, trying to distract Morgan. And it worked. For a second, he looked up at him, cocked his head, aimed the gun at him. _Aimed the gun at him._ “Jensen, run!” Jared screamed, before he banged against the window one last time, really hoping that Morgan was slow, or maybe the glass would deflect the bullet, because Jared was not hiding, before he knew Jensen was safe.

“Jared, duck!” Jensen yelled, then scrambled out of the room and just as Jared saw him leave, his gaze fell onto a large picture of him lying on the floor, right next to shots of Sandy. He frowned, then there was a loud whoosh over his head and the glass shattered all around him.

Jared stumbled and the boxes gave way underneath him. He dropped to the ground with a loud bang, conscious enough to protect himself best he could and roll to the side right away, away from the glass and the boxes threatening to crush him. Jensen’s lessons paid out, he realized, when he sprang up, only slightly hurt.

And thankfully Morgan was a bad shot. Or the glass _did_ deter the bullet. Or today was his lucky day.

Jared didn’t know. But as he stood there, kinda paralysed, still shocked about the events taking place just moments ago, Jensen was suddenly by his side, dragging him off, forcing him to run.

“You idiot. You stupid idiot!” Jensen pushed him forward a little too hard and Jared almost fell. He caught himself though and together they ran away. “I told you to stay away.”

Jared risked a sideways glance at him. Jensen was… he didn’t even _know_. Jensen looked as spooked and shaken up as Jared felt. Just also angrier. _A lot_ angrier. Jared shuddered, briefly considering if maybe it would have been better if Morgan’s bullet _had_ hit him. But by the time Jensen finally stopped them in one of the many side alleys they had passed, both of them panting, Jared knew just what to say.

“Wait!” He raised his hands soothingly, taking a step away from Jensen _just in case_. “Before you say anything, hear me out. I have a plan.”

 

 

_Chapter Eleven – Say When_

Two day later, past office hours, Jensen was meeting his uncle in his office. Partially because the building had a metal detector installed, partially because this was an official appointment, so it should take place in a proper office.

“Jenny!” Jeffrey Morgan spread his arms out in greeting after he entered. “Come give your uncle a hug.”

Jensen remained sitting behind his desk. “You’ll excuse me for choosing not to.”

Morgan laughed. “Whatever.” He sat down opposite him. “You have the documents?”

“Right here.” Jensen was pushing them across the desk. “But let’s clarify the rules again. I sign over all my shares of Ackles, Inc. to you and in turn you leave my friends alone?”

Morgan nodded, skimming over the paper. “As soon as my lawyers confirm the transaction, yes.”

Jensen ground his teeth. “Otherwise you’ll…”

“Aw, you wanna hear it again, Jenny-boy?” Morgan pushed the papers back and leaned closer. “If anything is fishy about this, and I mean anything _at all_ , your assistant will suffer so much, she’ll wish she was dead. And then, when I’ve had my fun, I’ll grant her her wish. And then I’ll move on to your boyfriend. And anyone else I find out you care for. Anyone at all.” He grinned.

Jensen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Just tell me one last thing.”

Morgan leaned back and raised his eyebrow.

“Why?” Jensen shook his head. “Why do you want my company? Don’t you have enough of your own?”

“Ah, Jenny,” Morgan sighed. “You still don’t get it, do you? I want it, because it’s _yours_. And you don’t deserve it. You don’t deserve anything.”

“But why?” Jensen’s voice had gotten small. “What did I ever do to you? I always tried to be a good kid. I never did anything wrong.”

“Yes, you did.” Morgan stood up now, pushing the chair back. “You survived!”

“What?” Jensen got up as well, passing his hands through his hair. “How is that my fault?”

“Because you shouldn’t have. You should have been with them, that day. Nobody told me you were at a stupid kid’s birthday party.” Morgan spat back and Jensen paled.

“What?” he sat back down. “I don’t… what… what are you saying?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Morgan’s voice was sugary sweet. “You never guessed that I had your precious parents killed? That I hated you so much, because you were the only thing standing in my way of finally earning what was rightfully mine?”

“The estate?” Jensen sunk down lower in his chair. “This was always about the money?”

“It was my money. Mine!” Morgan kicked against the desk. “Your mother stole it from me. And then _you_ stole it from me all over again, because I couldn’t kill you. Fuck!”

“Why not?” Jensen sounded like maybe that would have been better, like he wished he died with his parents.

“Because suddenly there was all the media attention. All eyes on you. Lawyers, all around you. You inherited it all, and I was left with the lousy allowance I’d gotten for raising you. Let me tell you, Jenny.” Morgan leaned across the desk. “If it weren’t for that, I would have kicked your sorry ass out right away. Whiny little brat.”

“You know, Jeffrey, there was a time, when I would have given it to you.” Jensen sat up straighter again, looking resigned.

Morgan sat back down. “No, you wouldn’t.”

Jensen placed his arms on top of the desk, folding his hands, a sad smile on his face. “I would have, if I’d known it would make you love me.” He looked away. “You were the only family I had, you know?”

Morgan snorted. “But you still cut me out of your will as soon as you were old enough to do so.”

“’Course I did.” Jensen shrugged. “Because you’re a filthy, undeserving criminal. A killer. Why would I leave you anything?”

“Because I’m the only family you have left?” Morgan suggested.

“You stopped being family a long time ago.” Jensen sighed. Then he picked up a pen. “Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”

Morgan waved his hand. “It’s all that I came in for.”

Jensen nodded, then he signed the documents, transferring his shares over to Morgan. “I’d say I hope I’ll never see you again, but that’d be futile, wouldn’t it?” Jensen handed him the papers.

Morgan grinned. “Whenever you’re back up on your feet, whenever you let yourself be happy, even just a little bit, I’ll be there to crush you again.” He grabbed the papers, checked the signature and then stood up. “I’ll only be satisfied when I own everything that’s yours. Every tiny bit.”

“But they will be safe now?” Jensen looked up at him.

“A deal’s a deal.” Morgan nodded. “Even with me.” He winked and turned to leave. Then he hesitated on the door and turned once again. “One thing you should know though, _hero_.”

Jensen’s eyes narrowed and he clenched his hands to fists. “What? You still have more?”

Morgan smirked. “It’s all on you, you know? All the people I’ve hurt, everyone I’ve killed, the lives I’ve ruined? If you had just died like you were supposed to, none of it would have happened.”

“You can’t pin that on me. You were a murderer before!” Jensen was visibly shaking now. “You killed my parents!”

“And it would have stopped there.” Morgan cocked his finger like a gun and aimed at Jensen, ‘shooting it off’ with another wink. “Think about that, Jenny-boy.”

Then he was out the door, and Jensen was left alone behind his desk, deathly pale, still shaking.

Jared almost clawed off his own skin waiting for Morgan to finally leave, to finally be out of the office, out of sight and out of earshot. He turned off the camera and hurried into Jensen’s office as soon as he could. “Jensen, are you…”

“Did you get it?” Jensen looked at him, eyes unfocused.

“Everything.” Jared nodded, stopping a few feet away, unsure if Jensen wanted comfort. “And the shares? Are you sure you can oppose the contract?”

“Positive.” Jensen got up from behind his desk, wavering a little. Jared immediately crossed the distance, trying to steady him, but Jensen pushed him away. “Go away.”

Jared opened his mouth to say something, but then bit his lip. Jensen might be deathly pale, but he was also still volatile. “So, uh, the shares?” He walked back to his old spot.

“He used blackmail to get them, it won’t be valid.” Jensen stood up straighter, then smirked a little. “Besides, I used invisible ink. My signature should vanish in an hour.”

Jared was unsure if it was appropriate for him to laugh, but if Jensen was cracking a joke... “You didn’t!”

Jensen shrugged. “No, really. I did.” He threw the pen at Jared. “This company is all I got, everything I accomplished all on my own. I’ll be damned before I let him take it from me.”

Jared frowned. “So you’d have let him hurt Sandy?”

Jared regretted his question the second Jensen narrowed his eyes. “He’d already be dead if it wasn’t for you, Jared. So be careful now.” Jensen lowered his voice. “ _Very_ careful.”

Holding up his hands, Jared took a few steps back, towards the office door. Yeah. Probably not a good idea to aggravate Jensen right now. And it had been damn stupid of him to ask. Jensen would never put his company first and risk Sandy getting hurt. He wasn’t so sure about himself, though. He wasn’t even sure why Morgan had taken a picture of him to begin with.

But Jared was still sure that it had been the right decision to not let Jensen kill his uncle. It just wasn’t his burden to carry.

“So we’ll give the tape to the authorities and let them deal with it?” Jared asked.

“ _I_ will, yes.” Jensen reached for his phone. “Me, and my lawyers. There’s nothing more for you to do, so I strongly suggest you head on home.”

The violence was still strong in his voice and Jared involuntarily flinched. And he should take the cue. “Alright. I’ll see you later?”

“You better hope not.” Jensen turned away and started dialling, most likely his law firm’s number.

And there was nothing else for Jared to do but leave.

He didn’t understand, though. Why was Jensen still so mad at him? This had all been Jared’s plan. Morgan seemed the type who just loved talking, bragging about his evil plans. And it worked. So really, what was the problem? Jensen didn’t have a death on his conscience and Morgan would go behind bars for a hopefully very long time.

But Morgan had loved talking maybe a bit too much. Jared shivered again just thinking about what he’d said about Jensen’s parents. Jared didn’t know much about how they died, or why. So he had no idea if Morgan was just bluffing, if he wanted Jensen to suffer some more, and this was all a sick mind game, or if he was really responsible for their death.

Jared couldn’t even imagine it. Have his own sister killed? That was beyond sick and twisted, that was just… unthinkable.

But Jeffrey Morgan… Jared just _didn’t know_.

The more he thought about it though… true or not, it had shaken Jensen up badly. And he shouldn’t be alone in dealing with this. But there was nobody Jensen could talk to, nobody who knew about this, knew about Jensen and his secrets. Nobody but Jared.

Fuck!

Jared pushed himself up from his couch and went to change into his costume. Then, at the last minute, thought better of it and put on the jeans, but put a casual hoodie on instead of the plaid shirt. He pocketed the mask though. You never knew.

By the time he had finally arrived in front of Jensen’s estate, he briefly considered going back home. Jensen might kill him. But chances were higher that Jensen needed him. He just had to risk it.

Thankfully Jensen lived in a very private area and Jared really hoped none of his neighbors were peeking out their windows with spyglasses right now. Pulling his hoodie tight, Jared stalked Jensen’s gate and the surrounding bushes until he found a place from which he could safely sneak inside.

Jensen’s car was in the driveway and the lights were on in at least one of the rooms. So Jensen was home. Good. His instinct didn’t fail him. At first he thought Jensen would be out punching the hell out of random thugs, but no. He was too shaken up. And after all the lessons on self-control and never losing your head, Jensen would hide out here instead. Where it was safe for him, and safe for others _from_ him.

So maybe Jared really, really shouldn’t enter, but, well… he’d memorized Jensen’s security codes the last time they entered the house. He wasn’t sure if Jensen _wanted_ him to know them, or if he didn’t care that he could see, because he didn’t know of Jared’s uncanny memory skills, but it didn’t matter. Because he was inside now.

Jensen wasn’t hard to find. Jared just followed the noises emitting from his TV and found him sitting on his couch, wrapped up in a blanket, bottle of tequila in his hands, stray, empty cans of beer littering the ground. Jensen was staring straight ahead, eyes unfocused, most likely not even aware of what channel he had tuned in.

“Go away.” Jensen murmured, not looking up, not flinching. Apparently not even surprised that Jared was here.

“No.” Jared sat down next to him, keeping a safe distance. He helped himself to a beer and glanced at Jensen. God damn, he was _so_ pale. And still shivering. “What are we watching?”

Jensen blinked. “Dunno.” He frowned a little, blinked again. “TV.”

“Cool.” _Uh-oh._ Jared took a sip of his beer, Jensen took a large gulp out of his bottle.

They stayed silent for a long time, Jensen staring straight ahead, Jared watching Jensen out of the corner of his eyes, itching to reach out, to make conversation, _anything_. Anything to snap him out of this. But something told him that he had to wait for Jensen to be ready first.

And after a while, Jensen spoke. Jared was so startled, and Jensen’s voice was so soft, that he’d have missed it, had he not been staring at Jensen’s lips and found them moving. “What?” Jared asked.

“I asked you why, Jared.” Jensen repeated, voice scratchy, hoarse.

“Why what?” Why was he here? Why was Morgan such an inhuman bastard? _Why what?_

“Why do you want to be a hero? Why put on a cape and risk your life for others?” Jensen took another gulp of tequila, then put the bottle down and reached for a beer instead.

“Uh…” Jared shrugged. “I want to help. I feel it’s my duty to…”

”Bullshit!” Jensen threw his can across the room and it crashed against the wall. Jared flinched. “I want the real reason, Jared. Tell me the truth, or get the fuck out of here.” Jensen turned his head, and for the first time tonight, really looked at Jared.

Which should be a good thing, except for it had Jared squirm under the scrutiny. He gulped, then scratched the back of his neck. “I… I just… I want my life to mean something.”

Jensen frowned. “And it doesn’t now?”

”No.” Jared shook his head. “I’m not like you, Jensen. I’m not rich. I don’t have any special skills. I’m a nobody from a small town. My dad had a heart attack when I was fourteen and I’ve had to take crappy jobs ever since. Everyone pities me, you know? Where I come from?” Now it was Jared’s turn to stare straight ahead. “Yet they also look down on me. I’m the loser with the crap jobs who didn’t even go to college. I just… I need to _matter_.”

“There are different ways, Jared.” Jensen opened up a can. “Less dangerous ways.”

Jared shrugged. “No. Not for me.” He turned his gaze back on Jensen. “Not anymore.”

“Why?” Jensen sighed.

“Because now I know I can help. Because _you_ need help.” Jared casually drank some beer, still eyeing the tequila. The air between them was still charged. Not with violence now, but it was still thick. And it made his skin crawl.

“No, I don’t.” Jensen huffed.

“Okay then, maybe _I_ need the help. Your help.” Jared shrugged. “Our deal’s not over yet.”

Jensen narrowed his eyes. “So, what? You gonna expose my secret identity when I call this over?”

“No.” Jared shook his head. He wanted the truth, so there. “I never would have done that. Never.”

Jensen sighed. “I know.”

Jared looked at him in surprise. “Then why’d you still agree to train me?”

“Fuck if I remember.” Jensen picked the can back up, but not before Jared couldn’t see the smile that came over his lips. Huh.

“Well then.” Jared nodded. “So much for that. You keep teaching me, I’ll keep you company, we both get what we want.”

Jensen chuckled. “You so sure about that?”

“Yep.” Jared grinned at him. “Win/win.”

Jensen rolled his eyes, still smiling though, and, most importantly, not denying it.

Silence fell over them again, except for the static coming from the TV. It was an actual program of some sorts, but it had reduced itself to white noise a long time ago.

Then, just as Jared was getting comfortable, Jensen started shaking again. Jared looked over in concern. “Jensen?”

“Should have let me kill him.” He shook his head. “Should have let me kill him before he… before he could tell me…” Jensen reached for the tequila, drowning the rest of his sentence.

“No, Jensen.” Jared placed his hand on his shoulder, but Jensen shook it off right away. “No. I know you. You would have never gotten past it.”

“No!” Jensen turned on him, eyes wide. “You don’t know me _at all_.”

“I do!” Jared snatched the bottle out of Jensen’s hands before he could empty it any further. “I might not know your favorite meal or your favorite actor, hell, I don’t even know if you prefer summer or winter or what you like to wear, but I know _you_ , Jensen. And I know you’re not a killer.” Jared hid the tequila on his side of the couch. If Jensen wanted it, he’d have to reach over. “And I’ll be damned if I let your uncle turn you into one.” Jensen turned his face so Jared touched his shoulder again, gripping hard, until Jensen was forced to make eye contact. “You’re better than him, Jensen. You hear me? You’re not your uncle.”

Jensen winced and recoiled, then suddenly, he was shivering worse than ever, his teeth chattering together audibly. Jared it his lip and decided it was time to stop waiting for Jensen to open up. Now it was time to force him.

Jared enveloped him in a huge hug. And of course Jensen was fighting it, pushing him away, struggling and whispering, “No. No, don’t. No.” Over and over again. But Jared was stronger, at least right now, with Jensen drunk and shaking.

But just as Jared felt bad and decided to let go after all, Jensen stopped fighting him and went limp in his arms. Until the sobs wrecked his body and he started crying. Jared’s heart broke and he stroked Jensen’s back, his neck, letting him bury his face against Jared and just let go.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Jensen. It’s gonna be okay.” Jared rocked him, holding on with all his strength, trying to let some of it seep over into Jensen. It just… god, fuck, it _broke him_. And then he was silently crying as well.

After a while, Jensen calmed down and Jared stopped clutching him so tight. He still held on to him though, absently stroking over his hair. “How could he, Jared?” Jensen sniffed. “My parents. How could… he’s my uncle. My _family_.” Fresh sobs shook him.

“I dunno, Jensen. I dunno.” Jared sniffled as well, but he leaned over, burying his head in the crook of Jensen’s neck. His lips touching Jensen’s skin. It was all he knew how to comfort him. He just hoped it would be enough. It had to be.

A long time later, Jensen stirred in his arms, but Jared didn’t let go just yet. Not again.

“Pizza,” Jensen whispered.

“Pizza?” Jared repeated. Did he want him to order some? Or… Jared’s head pounded.

“My favorite meal.” Jensen supplied. “It’s pizza. It was never served in the Morgan household though.”

Jared didn’t say anything for a few, realizing that by now, he was maybe even more shaken up than Jensen. But he owed it to Jensen to get a grip. He swallowed hard. “I like burgers. Not the cheap fast food shit though, real burgers, fresh from the grill.” Jared smiled a little.

“Me too.” Jensen moved again, but this time just to get closer to Jared and Jared smiled for real. “Jared?”

”Yeah?” His hand had somehow found its way underneath Jensen’s shirt and he drew idle patterns against his skin.

“You really think it’s gonna be okay?” Jensen clutched his hand to Jared’s hoodie. “That I’m gonna be okay?”

“Yes.” Jared nodded with his whole body. “I’ll…” He bit his lip. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“Okay.” His voice sounded small and weak and Jared’s heart just broke _all over again_. He shouldn’t have let Jensen kill Morgan, but by now Jared wondered if maybe _he_ should do the job instead.

He sighed and held Jensen until he felt his breathing even out. And even after Jensen had fallen asleep, Jared still held on to him, caressing him softly and listening to his soft snore until Jared, too, followed him to sleep.

He couldn’t know if Jensen would ever be okay. He didn’t even know if _he_ ’d ever be okay himself again, but he knew that this was the start of something. Of Winchester and Colt, keeping the streets safe at night. And of Jensen and Jared, keeping each other safe in the meantime.

 

The End.

 


End file.
